Zak Butters Calls Time on Port Adelaide, Requests Move Home to Victoria
Zak Butters, Port Adelaide's three-time best and fairest winner and dual All-Australian, has told the club he wants to leave via free agency and return home to Victoria.
The 25-year-old midfielder's future has dominated AFL headlines all season, with reports of offers reaching as high as $18 million over eight years from Richmond, Geelong, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs. Port Adelaide issued a statement confirming Butters and his management had informed the club he intends to exercise his rights as a restricted free agent — a status that lets a player field offers from rival clubs, though his current club can match the offer and retain him. ABC News
Butters said the decision was one he wrestled with for a long time. He wants to be closer to family and friends in Victoria. He also said he would always consider himself a Port Adelaide person and would always value what the club has done for him.
Port Adelaide has been adamant all season that it will match any bid on Butters, forcing a trade rather than letting him walk for nothing. Chief executive Matthew Richardson said in April that matching offers gives the club control over the outcome. That stance has not changed. If Port matches an offer, Butters can either stay or try to engineer a trade to his preferred destination during the trade period — the AFL's annual window in October when clubs swap players and draft picks.
The saga has been building for months. ABC Sport reported in July that Butters had told some teammates he was heading to Victoria, a story the club denied at the time. Coach Josh Carr admitted Butters was likely departing after Port Adelaide's 10-point win over Essendon on the weekend. Nine reported in mid-August that Butters may turn down the biggest offers in favour of joining a premiership contender, with Geelong linked to him. Collingwood has tabled a club-record financial offer, and the Western Bulldogs have expressed confidence they can attract A-grade free-agent targets like Butters. ABC News
Butters debuted for Port Adelaide in 2019 and quickly became the heartbeat of the midfield. He has won the John Cahill Medal — Port Adelaide's best and fairest award — three times and earned All-Australian selection twice. His 2026 season was cut short at 17 games by a syndesmosis injury in Round 18, the high-ankle sprain that prematurely ended his campaign. He has expressed a desire to play one more game for the club before his expected departure. AFL.com.au
For Port Adelaide, the loss of a player of Butters' calibre — a genuine star in his prime, the kind of midfielder every list needs — is significant. But the club's strategy of matching offers means they will not lose him for nothing. The trade period will determine whether Port can extract draft picks and players that soften the blow, and which Victorian club lands one of the competition's most wanted men.
