Mark Nicholls may not be a South Sydney Rabbitoh for much longer, but the club will always be in his heart.
After only having just re-signed with the Bunnies through 2023 a few months earlier, the prop was allowed to leave early when the opportunity of an extra year of job security became available elsewhere.
“It was really tough – I found a home here at Souths,” he told Wide World of Sports.
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“That came up after having such a good year and after being under Wayne for the last couple of years, he provided that opportunity – which to be honest, me and my family have never had,” he said of the job security.
“It became too hard to say no.”
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So this will be Nicholls’ last season with Souths, having been granted an early release for 2023 to sign with the Dolphins in their debut season.
“I’ve had four great years here, and found a home – before I came here I was a reserve grader and now I’ve turned into an NRL player and I get one more year to make some more memories.”
At 32, it’s likely that deal will take him through to the end of his career – and it will be an interesting pivot from journeyman and honest toiler to clubhouse leader.
But, in typical Nicholls fashion, he humbly brushed off that tag.
“They’ve signed some quality footy players and leaders from Melbourne already,” he said.
Aside from the extra year, he said the appeal of being a foundation player was alluring.
“It’s already an established Q-Cup team with a lot of history, but the opportunity to pull on that jersey as an NRL player in their first year was an attraction.”
But that’s down the road. For now, it’s premiership or bust after coming so close in 2021.
“Personally, it took a couple of weeks to get over the loss,” he said.
“It’s one of those things – when you lose by two points there’s always a couple of ‘what ifs’ and it’s hard to not think about that.”
He said it was close to impossible to avoid talking about it with both friends and fans.
“But that was good, in a way, because every person you’d speak to would remind you of the grand final and that just added fuel to the fire.”