‘Smart thing to do’: Why Souths junior made the switch to bitter rivals

The Rabbitohs were furious when the Roosters poached Egan Butcher from right under their nose, and it’s easy to see why.

The Rabbitohs wanted to keep the Butcher brothers. Picture: Gregg Porteous/NRL Photos

He’s the Malabar local whose defection to the Roosters sparked an off-field war, and Egan Butcher is now ready to knock out the Rabbitohs on the biggest stage of all.

The 22-year-old has slowly gone about his business in first grade since he made his debut last season, but there will be nothing quiet when he and brother Nat face the Bunnies at a packed Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

Egan played for the South Eastern Seagulls in the South Sydney District Junior Rugby League competition and played a couple of seasons in the Harold Matthews competition for the Rabbitohs.

His move to the local rivals caused a storm, with Souths furious that the Roosters poached several of their most promising youngsters.

It was a bitter blow that sparked major change in the respective junior leagues, but it could have been so different had elder brother Nat not captained the Roosters to Holden Cup success in 2016.

Egan and Nat Butcher were on the radar 10 years ago.

“When Nat first went over to the Roosters, I was still at Souths,” Egan told the NCA NewsWire.

“I don’t know the exact timeline, but I think I had one more year at Souths. I wasn’t contracted there and that’s when I ended up joining the Roosters.

“I played my two years of Harold Matts at Souths but then moved to the Roosters where I played two years of SG Ball.

“I was actually a Bulldogs fan growing up. I don’t know why but I think Willie Mason with the big afro appealed to me when I was younger.

“I went for them all the way until I grew up going for certain teams, but then I obviously changed when I started playing for the Roosters.

“The decision was all up to me. With Nat already over there, it just seemed like the smart thing to do. I haven’t regretted my decision at all. I love this club, I love my teammates and I want to win a premiership with this club.”

Keeping Egan shouldn’t have been too hard a sell for the Rabbitohs given his dad, Blake, played 23 games for them.

“He didn’t encourage me towards anything,” Egan said.

“It was always going to be my decision, but he liked the fact that Nat was here and I think he enjoyed seeing us both at the same club.”

Egan has long been touted as one of the best young prospects coming through and he’s starting to live up to the hype with a number of strong performance off the bench this year.

He’s had some nice moments but none will top his try from last week when he steamrolled through two defenders and then overpowered Latrell Mitchell to score.

Egan Butcher says this try was the best moment of his young career. Picture; Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“It was pretty special to do at the new stadium. It was the cherry on top of an awesome night. It was the best moment of my career so far,” he said.

“It took me a little while to get here. I feel like I’ve been watching some of these boys for a while now – including some of the ones that have recently retired – and I’ve been itching at the opportunity to be in the full-time squad.

“I feel like I played not too badly last year, but I want to take it up a step now.”

While natural talent will take him far, Egan says the retired trio of Boyd Cordner, Jake Friend and Mitch Aubusson have helped him greatly this year.

“They’ve got so much to share when it comes to experiences in life and knowledge of the game. I love seeing them because they’re such good mentors,” he said.

“Boyd gives me pointers all the time even right before we run out for a game. It’s never really too much about the footy but more about the mentality of what it takes to go after in a game and stuff like that. His words mean a lot to me.”

Originally published as ‘Smart thing to do’: Why Souths junior made the switch to bitter rivals