Football
17 September, 2024
Butsch's amazing comeback
Phillip Butsch is no stranger to playing in premierships. He has played in two with the Horsham Saints, the last coming in 2018 when he played for the reserves. He had previously played in a senior one.
From 2010, for five years, Butsch battled cancer with an aggressive melanoma. He only finished treatment six years ago. In 2019, he took a break from football following the 2018 premiership before returning to Laharum this year, as his daughters, Chloe and Lucy, were playing netball at the club.
He joined in training for fun, and no one, not even him, expected he would be putting the jumper on this season.
"I had a couple of training sessions and felt good, so I decided to see how I would go," Butsch said.
"It wasn't too bad. I had half an hour sessions and thought, oh well, these are a good bunch of blokes, some whom I played with in 2008 at the club, and I thought I would give it a crack.
"I was happy to fill in here and there, and I started to enjoy it and the more games I played, the more I enjoyed it."
"I have played in three losing grand finals at Laharum and one losing senior one at the Horsham Saints, and winning this one was pretty special."
Butsch credited Roberts for his hard work in turning the club around.
"A lot of credit has to go to Hamish Roberts, the board, and the coaches," Butsch said.
"They have done a fantastic job to turn the club around. They are already on the recruiting path for next year and we are hunting for a flag next year for the seniors and hopefully the reserves again."
Butsch may play again next year, but we will see how the body pulls up.
"I'm obviously very sore at the moment, but in regards to next year, we will just see how the body goes and take it from there."