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

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a er and for the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL). 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 States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. He is the son of former Rabbitohs' player Blake Butcher. Butcher played his junior rugby league for the South Eastern Seagulls, before being signed by the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive wit ...

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, ...

, Butcher made his

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

debut for the Roosters against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

. 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 Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

30–28 at

ANZ Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

2017

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

2018

Butcher made 13 appearances for Sydney 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, playing 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 ...

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 Roosters 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 Sydney 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 Roosters 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 was 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 ...

, Butcher scored two tries for the Sydney Roosters in a 26–12 victory over Manly. In round 21, Butcher scored two tries in an upset victory over

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. In round 23, Butcher scored four tries for the Sydney Roosters in a record 72–6 victory over

West Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL ...

. 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.

2023

Butcher played 24 matches for the Sydney Roosters in the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season was the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, the longest in league history, followed by a finals series ...

as the club finished 7th on the table and qualified for the finals. Butcher played in both of the clubs finals games as they were eliminated in the second week against Melbourne.

2024

In round 8 of the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

, Butcher scored two tries for the Sydney Roosters in their 60-18 victory over St. George Illawarra in the traditional ANZAC Day game. Butcher played 23 matches for the Sydney Roosters throughout the 2024 NRL season as the club finished third and qualified for the finals.

Statistics

*denotes season competing source:

References

External links

Sydney Roosters profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Nat 1997 births Living people Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian rugby league players Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Sydney Sydney Roosters players 21st-century Australian sportsmen