Nathaniel Butcher (born 25 July 1997) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a and forward for the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. He won an NRL premiership with the Roosters in 2019.

Background

Butcher was born in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

, Australia. He is the son of former Rabbitohs' player Blake Butcher. Butcher played his junior rugby league for the

South Eastern Seagulls The South Eastern Seagulls were formed in 1957 and currently field male and female teams in all junior grades of the Sydney Combined Competition and South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League. The club is based at Pioneers Park, Malabar. ...

, before being signed by the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

. Butcher is of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

descent

Playing career

Early career

In November and December 2014, Butcher played for the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

. After playing in the lower grades at the South Sydney Rabbitohs, he joined the Sydney Roosters in 2015. In 2015 and 2016, he played for the Roosters'

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

team.

2016

In round 26 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, Butcher made his

debut for the Roosters against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

. In September, he was named at lock in the 2016 NYC Team of the Year. In October, he captained the Roosters' NYC team to a premiership win, defeating the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

30-28 at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

2017

Butcher made 2 appearances for Easts in 2017 but did not feature for the club in their finals campaign.

2018

Butcher made 13 appearances for Eastern Suburbs in 2018 but made no appearances for the club in the finals and did not play in Easts 21-6 grand final victory over Melbourne.

2019

Butcher made a total of 23 appearances for the

in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

. Butcher played from the bench in the club's

2019 NRL Grand Final The 2019 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2019 National Rugby League season and was played at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between defending premiers the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra Ra ...

victory over Canberra at

. On 7 October 2019, Butcher was named on the bench for the U23 Junior Australian side.

2020

Butcher played 19 games for the

in the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

as the club reached the finals but were eliminated in the second week by Canberra ending their attempt of a third straight premiership.

2021

Butcher played a total of 19 games for the

in the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

including the club's semi-final in week two. The

would be eliminated from the second week of the finals losing to Manly 42-6.

2022

In round 2 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

, Butcher scored two tries for the

in a 26-12 victory over Manly. In round 21, Butcher scored two tries in an upset victory over

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. In round 23 of the

, Butcher scored four tries for the

in a record 72-6 victory over

West Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture c ...

. This was the first time Butcher had scored four tries in a single game in his NRL career. It was also the first time since 1951 that a forward had scored four tries in a game at the club.

References

External links

Sydney Roosters profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Nat 1997 births Living people Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian rugby league players Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Sydney Roosters players Rugby league players from Sydney