Recommitted Zak Butters [RFA 2026] - name was floated for a move in 2025, stayed

[HBFlanker]

He's clearly steak knives so I'm not suggesting he's the majority of the trade but Port were very keen on Riley Garcia who will have limited opportunities in our midfield even if we don't get Butters.

I think at a club without a deep midfield Garcia could play quite a bit of footy. I think Garcia + 2 decent first round picks would get it done. Just don't know how we get said first round picks.

I think thats pretty close.

 

[Rash]

I Butters wants to leave, we want busslinger in return as apart of the package

 

[ReturningHawk]

If Zak Butters wants to come to the Dogs, you think it would be crazy for us to trade for him? He's a superstar and would absolutely make us better, I think that's a no brainer to sell the farm for. Definitely need defenders too, but I think you can do both.

Yes. Why is that hard to understand? If Curnow wanted to come to the dogs, you’d also be crazy to pay the trade and salary cost while you still have a hole in your list. I’d think that with 2 first rounders and 1.5m+ you could prise Weitering out of Carlton. Bevo is probably eying off Sam Frost instead.

 

[Bald Headed Flog]

I Butters wants to leave, we want busslinger in return as apart of the package

If it was me, I’d do it, even knowing how dire our defensive stocks might be.

I watch the VFL every week. Buss racks up cheap possessions but is almost like a less defensively capable Luke Ryan at Freo, in that he’s used to perform a switch through defence, or presents as a bail out option when team mates are under pressure, but rarely seems to take aggressive intercepts or land a goal-saving spoil. Looks amazing on the stat sheet, not so much in person.

I wanted Weddle at the time, knowing he was the other possible option as a tall defender. Hawks definitely look to have won that one..

 

[Doggies7]

Yes. Why is that hard to understand? If Curnow wanted to come to the dogs, you’d also be crazy to pay the trade and salary cost while you still have a hole in your list. I’d think that with 2 first rounders and 1.5m+ you could prise Weitering out of Carlton. Bevo is probably eying off Sam Frost instead.

Have to agree to disagree. Butters is a top what 5-7 player in the AFL? If one of those guys is wanting to come to your club, I don't think you bypass this because KPD is currently a greater need. Saying no thanks to having Zak Butters on your list is crazy IMO. Treloar is likely done at the end of the year and Libba maybe has one more left at this high level? Midfield is still the most important area of the ground and could look bare next to Bont and Ed pretty quickly and Zak absolutely makes us a better team.

Still need to address KPD, but not at the expense of a talent like Butters if he wants to come to the club, the Dogs don't get A graders requesting a trade here very often unfortunately... (If Butters is to)

 

[rapidfire7]

Just doubt Geelong would be willing to meet his wage demands

 

[longdonkey]

I think you're right. Hope he gets along with his new boss.

Josh is a good man. We aren't losing anything moving on from Stinkers.

 

[longdonkey]

He's clearly steak knives so I'm not suggesting he's the majority of the trade but Port were very keen on Riley Garcia who will have limited opportunities in our midfield even if we don't get Butters.

I think at a club without a deep midfield Garcia could play quite a bit of footy. I think Garcia + 2 decent first round picks would get it done. Just don't know how we get said first round picks.

Why on earth would you trade 2 first round picks and a player, where if you are so sure he want to go to the Bulldogs, you can wait a year and get him for nothing. What you said makes no sense.

 

[Bald]

Why on earth would you trade 2 first round picks and a player, where if you are so sure he want to go to the Bulldogs, you can wait a year and get him for nothing. What you said makes no sense.

Can you quote where I said I am sure he wants to come to the Bulldogs? Also - you will be able to match his contract offer given he will be a restricted free agent, and force a trade, so there are no guarantees he goes for nothing.

Don't place judgements on what I say, when clearly you've got little to no grasp on how the system actually works.

 

[longdonkey]

Can you quote where I said I am sure he wants to come to the Bulldogs? Also - you will be able to match his contract offer given he will be a restricted free agent, and force a trade, so there are no guarantees he goes for nothing.

Don't place judgements on what I say, when clearly you've got little to no grasp on how the system actually works.

What's this passive aggressive stuff?

I don't see a world where Port willingly trades Butters out, maybe if we are coming off a premiership but that is extremely unlikely. Butters has said his decision will be purely a football decision. Which means to me if Port don't freefall down the ladder next year he is almost guaranteed to stay.

 

[ReturningHawk]

Have to agree to disagree. Butters is a top what 5-7 player in the AFL? If one of those guys is wanting to come to your club, I don't think you bypass this because KPD is currently a greater need. Saying no thanks to having Zak Butters on your list is crazy IMO. Treloar is likely done at the end of the year and Libba maybe has one more left at this high level? Midfield is still the most important area of the ground and could look bare next to Bont and Ed pretty quickly and Zak absolutely makes us a better team.

Still need to address KPD, but not at the expense of a talent like Butters if he wants to come to the club, the Dogs don't get A graders requesting a trade here very often unfortunately... (If Butters is to)

It isn’t saying no thanks, it’s saying that the price tag is silly when he doesn’t fill the obvious need. The Dogs with a player like Weitering would be formidable.

 

[ReturningHawk]

Just doubt Geelong would be willing to meet his wage demands

Everyone takes unders to go to Geelong because of the incredible opportunities for fishing and surfing and financial advisement roles.

 

[Bald]

What's this passive aggressive stuff?

I don't see a world where Port willingly trades Butters out, maybe if we are coming off a premiership but that is extremely unlikely. Butters has said his decision will be purely a football decision. Which means to me if Port don't freefall down the ladder next year he is almost guaranteed to stay.

Read what you wrote to me initially and you’ll see that it’s you that started the passive aggressive rubbish.

Dan Houston said he was staying a month before he requested to leave. If you’re taking players words then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

 

[TiAn_]

As the coach, I’m sure he’s has meetings with the list manager.

It would be crazy for the Dogs to sell the farm for anything other than defenders at this point.

Crazy would be turning our noses up at an elite talent like Zak Butters for any reason. Libba and Treloar are near retirement and Sanders is likely to be Tasmania’s main target and may leave. Butters, Richards and Freijah would be a great core to take the load from Bont as he ages out of full time midfield in his 30s.

If we’re trading multiple first round picks I’d much rather do it for 6 years of prime Zak Butters than a few years of a post prime KPD like Jacob Weitering.

 

[CarnTheScray]

As the coach, I’m sure he’s has meetings with the list manager.

It would be crazy for the Dogs to sell the farm for anything other than defenders at this point.

If we just recruit Butters we will be stuck in the same cycle we’ve had for years where we use a powerful midfield to cover a poor defence.

Dream scenario but if we got a Weitering type and a couple other defenders into this side, it completely changes the way we defend the ground, which isn’t work against top teams currently.

 

[Chewy316]

Read what you wrote to me initially and you’ll see that it’s you that started the passive aggressive rubbish.

Dan Houston said he was staying a month before he requested to leave. If you’re taking players words then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

Literally every man and his dog at Port and anyone working in AFL circles knew that Houston wanted to leave even when he said on radio that he would be remaining at Port.

It really isn't worth comparing the two situations because they're apples and oranges.

 

[ReturningHawk]

Crazy would be turning our noses up at an elite talent like Zak Butters for any reason. Libba and Treloar are near retirement and Sanders is likely to be Tasmania’s main target and may leave. Butters, Richards and Freijah would be a great core to take the load from Bont as he ages out of full time midfield in his 30s.

If we’re trading multiple first round picks I’d much rather do it for 6 years of prime Zak Butters than a few years of a post prime KPD like Jacob Weitering.

Bont, Richards, Freijah, Sanders. There is no hole in the midfield no matter how you slice it. You’re talking about adding a fourth All-Australian to your midfield. If it’s free agency and you have the cap space, then it’s different, why not?

Weitering is 27, by the way. If that makes him “post-prime”, then Rory Lobb must be ready for cremation.

 

[TiAn_]

Bont, Richards, Freijah, Sanders. There is no hole in the midfield no matter how you slice it. You’re talking about adding a fourth All-Australian to your midfield. If it’s free agency and you have the cap space, then it’s different, why not?

Weitering is 27, by the way. If that makes him “post-prime”, then Rory Lobb must be ready for cremation.

It’s just a really weird angle, he’s arguably a top 5 mid in the league and we’re supposed to say ‘no thanks’ if he wanted to come to us to preserve midfield time for a player that is half as good in Ryley Sanders and on the off chance we can shake loose some unspecified key defender that for some unclear reason will require all of the trade capital we’d need for Zak Butters and isn’t going to single handedly fix our defence anyway.

 

[CobberRodgers]

It’s just a really weird angle, he’s arguably a top 5 mid in the league and we’re supposed to say ‘no thanks’ if he wanted to come to us to preserve midfield time for a player that is half as good in Ryley Sanders and on the off chance we can shake loose some unspecified key defender that for some unclear reason will require all of the trade capital we’d need for Zak Butters and isn’t going to single handedly fix our defence anyway.

Of course you’re not going to say no to Butters, no one would. I’d literally give Port a blank cheque as far as what I’d give them in a trade for him. Superstar.

The Dogs can win the flag without him, but they can’t win it without fixing their back 6. It’s not a weird angle it’s just looking at it from outside the Dogs perspective as to what they need to do to contend, and by contend I mean properly.

Just like we need another midfielder to take the next step, the Dogs need a defender (or 2 tbh).

 

[Rash]

It’s just a really weird angle, he’s arguably a top 5 mid in the league and we’re supposed to say ‘no thanks’ if he wanted to come to us to preserve midfield time for a player that is half as good in Ryley Sanders and on the off chance we can shake loose some unspecified key defender that for some unclear reason will require all of the trade capital we’d need for Zak Butters and isn’t going to single handedly fix our defence anyway.

hes definitley a top 5 mid mate even higher

Ideally u force us to accept unders and, i think u can get weitering and butters for wayy unders

 

[ReturningHawk]

It’s just a really weird angle, he’s arguably a top 5 mid in the league and we’re supposed to say ‘no thanks’ if he wanted to come to us to preserve midfield time for a player that is half as good in Ryley Sanders and on the off chance we can shake loose some unspecified key defender that for some unclear reason will require all of the trade capital we’d need for Zak Butters and isn’t going to single handedly fix our defence anyway.

It depends whether you want to field the AA midfield line, or you want to win a premiership.

You’ve already got arguably the best midfield AND forward line in the competition and you’re 9th. Paying the kings ransom to improve your midfield further is ridiculous. Would be like Hawks trading two firsts for Harris Andrews.

 

[TiAn_]

It depends whether you want to field the AA midfield line, or you want to win a premiership.

You’ve already got arguably the best midfield AND forward line in the competition and you’re 9th. Paying the kings ransom to improve your midfield further is ridiculous. Would be like Hawks trading two firsts for Harris Andrews.

How do we have the best forward line? We have Darcy and Naughton surrounded by Rhylee West, Laitham Vandermeer, Lachie McNeil, Caleb Poulter, a couple of rookies in Cooper Hynes and Josh Dolan. Our scoring this year is a product of our spread of goal kickers from up the ground, some mids rotating forward at times, not because we have an amazing collection of forwards.

Defence is about far more than one player, particularly one KPD. The Hawks brought in Barrass and Battle and concede more shots at goal, a higher xScore and the same number of points (thanks to their opponents inaccuracy compared to last year). Their defence has changed, it hasn’t gotten better. Conceding a couple less marks inside 50, but giving up more scores from general play. Gains elsewhere have been offset by the Hawks conceding more points per game from chains starting in the opponent’s defensive half than they did last year. A product of a taller and less mobile defence not defending the ground as well? Improving one of our KPD spots is likely to have a similar marginal impact for us.

If he were interested, we’re not turning down Zak Butters so we can save capital for bloody Leek Aleer, or whichever KPD is actually available.

 

[Freomaniac]

If we just recruit Butters we will be stuck in the same cycle we’ve had for years where we use a powerful midfield to cover a poor defence.

Dream scenario but if we got a Weitering type and a couple other defenders into this side, it completely changes the way we defend the ground, which isn’t work against top teams currently.

Would of been interesting had Dogs got Josh Battle.

He is doing ok at the hawks so getting him late last season would of been fine. Or traded in for Tom Barrass. Yeah it's a different thread.

But Butters and Bont leading the dogs mids would be interesting

 

[Bald]

Would of been interesting had Dogs got Josh Battle.

He is doing ok at the hawks so getting him late last season would of been fine. Or traded in for Tom Barrass. Yeah it's a different thread.

But Butters and Bont leading the dogs mids would be interesting

We were the first ones to meet with Barrass in 2024 and looked likely to land him but Sam Mitchell visited him and he decided to go to the Hawks.

The club is aware of its defensive deficiencies, which is good.

 

[Pencil case]

After watching Bont talk openly about wanting to play with Butters tonight on the news, Zac Butters get ready to learn Footscranese