Burgess has shown himself to be an exceptional bench player at test level. His incredible energy and enthusiasm have meant that playing him for 20 minutes against tired opposition is particularly effective, giving him more room to snipe as he is wont to do whilst his aggressive defense tends to lift his teammates. I think he is certainly a respectable option in this capacity. What I wonder is whether his game management and decision making matches that of Genia, and that is why I tend to prefer the latter as a starting player unless Burgess continues to outperform Genia for the rest of the S15.
I honestly don't think I will weigh too much further into this discussion for another few weeks at least. I can tell you what I thought of people's form last year, but given how far off the actual selection period is most of what we say is speculation based on our perception of what, by the time the selectors begin choosing a squad, is a largely irrelevant time period. We can all say the people we class as certain inclusions, (TPN, Sharpie, Pocock et al) but commenting on the fringe players and contentious positions is going to be difficult to say the least until the tournament has run enough of its course to give a reasonable account of each player.
