Anthony Seibold remembers his phone ringing last December when Angus Crichton's name popped up, calling from a location on the NSW north coast.

Crichton had just flown north and personally told Rabbitohs co-owner Russell Crowe he would be jumping the Anzac Parade divide to join South Sydney's fierce rivals, the Roosters.

Next, he had tell his NRL head coach, who had been in the job less than two months and party to the tug-of-war over Crichton, one of the hottest young talents in the game.

"I said, ‘Gussy, I’m disappointed that you’re leaving’," Seibold recalled. "But it wasn’t an issue for me at all. It might be an issue for other people, but it wasn’t an issue for me. I treat every player fairly and as long as I see a team-first approach and trying to buy into what we do – and everything Gussy has shown me is he’s doing that – it’s not an issue."

It could have been a switch – almost 12 months out from before it actually comes to fruition – which could destabilise a club for a season, let alone a player. But not the Rabbitohs. Not Crichton.