Sam Walker is gone for the season, but the similarities between the injured Roosters playmaker and his halves replacement, Hugo Savala, are uncanny.
Both are strong ball-runners and excellent defenders – and, perhaps most crucially, both had a healthy dislike of South Sydney when growing up.
Walker, who has undergone ankle surgery after suffering a syndesmosis injury in the defeat to the Dolphins on Saturday, refused to wear the Rabbitohs jersey as a boy, even though his father Ben and uncle Shane represented the club.
“Sam hated the Rabbits, only because he was such an oppositional child,” Shane told this masthead in 2024. “Everything his dad wanted, he wanted the opposite; he was so defiant, nothing has changed – he’s still an awful animal.”
Now it can be revealed Savala, who will play in his preferred No.6 role alongside Daly Cherry-Evans in Friday night’s derby, also ignored his mother’s pleas to support the Pride of the League.
“When I moved over here from the UK, Elena Sutton, [Souths legend] John Sutton’s mother, used to look after the boys, and when I told her I needed a rugby league team to follow, she said, ‘You have to go red and green’,” Teresa Savala said on Monday.
“I still support Souths, but I could never convince Hugo. He even started in the Souths competition with the Coogee Dolphins, only for them to fold before he joined the Coogee Randwick Wombats.
“But Hugo has never gone for any other club but the Roosters. There was nothing I could do. I tried but failed. He always loved them. I’ll go there on Friday night and cheer both teams.
“And being a nurse, and knowing what both clubs will do for Jai Arrow [before kick-off], that’s so heart-warming knowing the game is looking after people.”
Savala has been a standout in the centres for the Roosters this year, but has always preferred the halves, where he played in his debut season last year.
What the Roosters loose with Walker’s short kicking game and off-the-cuff approach, they gain in Savala’s calmness and running game.
Cherry-Evans, 37, has been mentoring Savala along with Luke Keary, the club’s two-time premiership winner and a key member of Souths’ 2014 drought-breaking title, who has been working in a consultancy role one day a week.
“If you’re a young half coming in, it’s a great situation to be in,” said representative utility Connor Watson.
“Luke has been great for us all year. He was there to help Hugo today with some stuff. Daly will take all the weight off Hugo and get us around the park. The Walker and Cherry-Evans combo, both of those guys play on ball at different times.
“Now we’ll probably see Cherry take most of the on-ball stuff, and Hugo be a bit more out the back of shape. He’s a great ball runner. ‘Fluff’ [Savala] can go and play his game, which is running well and defending well.”
The return of Daniel Tupou on the wing will allow Billy Smith to shift to the centres, which is also his preferred position.
The Roosters have lost their past two games, but still secured a top-four berth courtesy of Cronulla’s shock loss to Cronulla on the weekend.
The derby rivals will momentarily park their hostilities to honour Arrow, who will take the field to mark his 100th game then come to the sideline before a ball is kicked. Arrow, who was forced to retire this year after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, led Souths out for his 99th game against the Titans in emotional pre-match scenes on the Gold Coast.
“It shows you some things are bigger than rugby league, we’re all behind Jai in his fight – the whole rugby league world has been since he announced [he had MND],” Watson said. “It’s been great to see NRL community get behind it.”
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