ENGLISH forward George Burgess has issued an unreserved apology after being arrested and charged with causing wilful damage to a car.

The 21-year-old prop forward, one of four Liversedge-born brothers now playing in Australia’s NRL, been stood down by his Australian club, South Sydney.

Burgess is alleged to have hurled a street sign into a car windscreen in Cairns in the early hours of yesterday morning after celebrating his team’s 30-24 NRL win over Gold Coast Titans.

He has been charged with two counts of wilful damage to property and is due to appear before magistrates in Cairns on July 10.

In a statement issued through the Rabbitohs, Burgess said: "I would like to apologise unreservedly to the Rabbitohs members, sponsors and everyone in the community.

"I have let my team and my family down. I acknowledge that I am a role model for kids and I will do everything I can to restore my reputation through working harder in the community.

"It is my responsibility to ensure that this type of behaviour does not happen again.

"I will learn from my mistake and bounce back stronger and better as a person."

Burgess was immediately dropped by Souths and was today suspended for two matches and fined 10,000 (£6,100), sanctions imposed after they jointly determined the appropriate penalty with the NRL.

Souths have said Burgess will also pay for the cost of the damage, undergo an anger management program and commit to a further 50 hours (in addition to his existing commitments) of community support work through Souths Cares.

"George accepts he’s done the wrong thing and that there has to be a price," said Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson.

"For someone on his contract level it is a big price to pay and he still has to deal with the issue in court.

"We will support him because he has faced up to what he has done and because this isn’t reflective of his general behaviour at the club.

"Everyone is going to have to get the message though that the NRL is going to stay strong on these issues and that the clubs will support that stance without exception."

NRL chief executive Dave Smith said that the game will not accept bad behaviour and that it supported the stance of the South Sydney club.

"The fans and the players want to see an end to it," Smith said.

"It’s not about issuing warnings, it is about taking the appropriate action."

Burgess, who played reserve-grade football for Bradford before joining older brothers Sam and Luke in Sydney two years ago, made his NRL debut in 2012 and has since made 16 appearances.

Along with twin brother Tom, he played for England Knights against Scotland and Ireland last autumn and his sensational form in the NRL this year has put him firmly in contention for a place in England’s World Cup team, alongside established international Sam.

Tom, who broke into Bradford’s Super League team last season, joined his three brothers in Sydney this year and they have also been joined by their mother Julie, who gave up her teaching job in Leeds to emigrate.

National coach Steve McNamara is due to fly out to Australia tomorrow to catch up with the Burgess brothers and the rest of the NRL-based England players as part of his preparations for the end-of-year World Cup.