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Sam Butler
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| Statistics |
Career Snapshot |
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DOB:
14th Jan 1986 |
Career
Games |
165 |
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Debut:
2004 |
Career Goals |
16 |
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From:
Williaston / Central Districts (SA) |
West Coast
Games |
165 |
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Height:
187 cm |
Weight:
81 kg |
West Coast
Goals |
16 |
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| Player Information |
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Sam Butler is a silky skilled midfield prospect recruited from Central Districts in SA in the 2003 draft. A late convert to the game from soccer, many supporters questioned his selection - something he proved wrong with an outstanding rookie season in 2004, including a Rising Star Nomination.
Butler's 2005 season was a bit up and down, as is often the case for young players in their second season. A regular in the side early in the season, Butler's form was always borderline on holding his spot in the side, and he ended up spending much of the latter part of the season back in the WAFL. Despite this, he was recalled to the side for the Grand Final when a spot opened up late, showing the Eagles off field management have a lot of confidence in the youngster's ability.
The confidence was not misplaced when Butler managed to force his way back into the team mid-season after an injury prone start which saw him miss the first twelve weeks. After holding his spot for the entire remainder of the season, he was rewarded with a place in the Eagles winning 2006 Grand Final team.
Unfortunately for Butler a string of injuries prevented him from more than an occasional WAFL game in 2007, and while he regained his spot in the Eagles team in 2008, his ongoing run of injuries has prevented him from regaining the form of earlier in his career. As a rule, Butler has either been injured or coming back from injury pretty much the entire run of his career, his high being 16 games in 2009. Indeed, it took Butler until his tenth season to finally reach his 100th game.
Though injuries have restricted the number of games Butler has been able to play, his quality has been undeniable - he was probably the Eagles best in a poor day out in the 2015 Grand Final, which earned him another season's contract - but after two final seasons, Butler elected to retire at the end of the 2017 season, the last of the Eagles 2006 Premiership team to call it quits.. |
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| Career Honours |
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2003: Drafted, Pick 20.
2004: Rising Star Nominee.
2005: AFL Grand Final Team Member.
2006: AFL Premiership Player.
2009: 50th AFL game.
2013: 100th AFL game.
2015: 150th AFL game and life membership |
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| Career Statistics
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| A lot
of thanks are due to other people for the stats on this
page. For all games from 1993-2002, thanks to Paul
at AFL Stats http://stats.rleague.com/afl/afl_index.html.
For the 1987-1992 stats, much thanks to carneagles
for providing me a copy of the stats created for corkintheocean,
probably the best footy blog out there. Go read it! |
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