Rabbitohs star Tom Burgess taken to hospital with 'burner' neck injury

South Sydney Rabbitohs star Tom Burgess has been taken to hospital after suffering a concerning neck injury late in his side's loss to Melbourne.

The Rabbitohs confirmed Burgess had been taken to hospital as a precautionary step after the forward appeared to sustain a painful burner-type neck injury.

South Sydney also confirmed Burgess had suffered a number of similar neck injuries last season but were concerned with the severity of Thursday night's incident.

"The good news is he is moving his arms and his legs," Nine's sideline reporter Danika Mason confirmed.

"We have also been told that he is in quite a lot of pain so he will be continued to be monitored."

Burgess posted to Instagram during his hospital visit, telling followers that he'll be OK.

"I'm all good, CT scans have come back clear but have to keep this lovely thing on till the morning to rule out any serious nerve damage," he wrote.

"Could be a long night in Melbourne.

"How good the footy is back eh?"

South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett reassured fans Burgess wasn't in a bad way.

"Tom's OK," Bennett said.

"He's got a pretty stiff neck and his arm doesn't totally have all its strength there at the moment but the doc doesn't think it's too bad.

"He'll have some precautionary x-rays but everyone's pretty confident he's OK."

Burgess lay wincing on his back in the final five minutes of the NRL season opener, causing play to halt for some time as he was tended to by trainers.

He was eventually stretchered off by the Medicab with what Phil Gould and Andrew Johns described as burning nerve pain in the neck.