Outside, Burgess was in a rush to meet with his wife Phoebe for their first dinner without four-month old baby daughter Poppy.
But inside, he and defence lawyer Nick Ghabar left no stone unturned to ensure the Rabbitohs' inspirational player was free to play the Broncos and Manly in the coming fortnight.
Staring down the barrel of a two-week ban, Burgess argued he was merely bracing for contact when he was penalised for the eighth-minute hit.
In a hearing that went for just short of an hour, Burgess' defence team also argued that the prosecution's main evidence, one of nine camera angles shown, was misleading and virtually an optical illusion.
Instead, they presented three photographs they - along with coach Michael Maguire - said showed the contact was clearly front on as Burgess attempted to remain square.
"His shoulder is actually in my jaw," Burgess said.
"It's physically impossible for that to happen if I'm making a shoulder charge.
"If I stayed upright I risk injury or being knocked out myself."
Meanwhile the NRL's counsel Peter McGrath pointed out Burgess' lack of effort to use his arms in the tackle, and claimed he had turned his left shoulder into Eastwood.
"You've transferred weight to your left foot," he said.
"You've leant forward with your upper left arm."
But the three-man panel of Dallas Johnson, Tony Puletua and Mal Cochrane disagreed - taking half an hour to deliver their verdict.
And with that Burgess was free to join his wife at dinner, with two very happy reasons to be running late.
"It's the first night without our daughter," Burgess said as he walked out the door of Rugby League Central.
"So I best get going."
- AAP
