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

[Gumby2Hurley]

If he wants to compete he’ll end up at either geelong/hawthorn/collingwood/dogs.

 

[willsy4]

Who says that they would all require 1m+?

Battle came to us on less than what Saints offered. Just like when we set up our threepeat, we’ll have a pay structure players will fit into it. We won’t be paying absorbent amounts to players to get them to join us, it will be the opposite in fact.

Hawks only pay water resistant amounts

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Band 1 compensation would say it's at least $900K.

How would we know? The AFL keep it all hush, and we know Hawks didn't match the Saints offer.

 

[Young Gun #6]

Josh Ward
Josh Weddle
1 late first

About fair value for a 24 year old top 5 player in the comp.

 

[Red4]

Yeah, no. Carlton’s [emoji637]st + [emoji638]nd and a ff[emoji637] is good enough. If you want more we get Harley instead and you guys can deal with Geelong who’ll give you a half eaten sandwich.

 

[Lindsay_Gilbee]

If he leaves I’ll be very surprised if it’s for a team other than Geelong or the dogs.

Sam Mclure has no idea with the teams his mentioned.

 

[TazHawk15]

Josh Ward
Josh Weddle
1 late first

About fair value for a 24 year old top 5 player in the comp.

How about we throw in an autographed pic of the 3 Peat cups?

The Hawks would not even do a straight swap for weddle unless PA threw in a first rounder, am I doing this right?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

If he leaves I’ll be very surprised if it’s for a team other than Geelong or the dogs.

Sam Mclure has no idea with the teams his mentioned.

If you car a wide net early you can get a larger cross section of the footy community tuning in through out the year. I have a suspicion it'll be the dogs

 

[ShadowCat]

I'm gonna trust Twomey going with Dogs and Cats, over Sam 'they won't take him Mitch', Manure, going with Hawks, Pies, Tigers and Bombers.

One actually has connections, the other is just an idiot who never gets a thing right.

Reckon Dogs are in the box seat for this one. Idolized Bont growing up. Family all big Doggies supporters. Fits their midfield to a tee.

Would kill to get him at Geelong, but I'm not sure he's what we need, to compliment Smith and Holmes, in the future. Makes more sense for the Dogs.

 

[Daka]

How would we know? The AFL keep it all hush, and we know Hawks didn't match the Saints offer.

Bit of a contradiction to say he wasn't paid 1 million than say the AFL keep it all hush.
He could be earning 1m year one or two years than 800-900k one year if it wasn't 1 million a year than it was close to it.

Hawks are going to need to pay Nick Watson 1 million a year when he comes out of contract, I just can't see them getting Butters or Reid.

Oscar Allen will end up at the Hawks.

 

[Lindsay_Gilbee]

If you car a wide net early you can get a larger cross section of the footy community tuning in through out the year. I have a suspicion it'll be the dogs

I know people can shit can a lot of the reasons I’ll list, but I think it’s a pretty compelling argument.

Footscray is closest AFL town to his home town, played at western jets, went to school in Maribyrnong, family are bulldogs supporters, besides Port I reckon we’d be able to offer him the most cash of the teams he’d actually want to go to.

I just can’t imagine someone as competitive as him is going to want to go a team that is not in the finals mix yet like Essendon, Richmond, North.

I don’t see the Hawks happening at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if they even trade this years picks for next year so they can go for Reid.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I'm gonna trust Twomey going with Dogs and Cats, over Sam 'they won't take him Mitch', Manure, going with Hawks, Pies, Tigers and Bombers.

One actually has connections, the other is just an idiot who never gets a thing right.

Reckon Dogs are in the box seat for this one. Idolized Bont growing up. Family all big Doggies supporters. Fits their midfield to a tee.

Would kill to get him at Geelong, but I'm not sure he's what we need, to compliment Smith and Holmes, in the future. Makes more sense for the Dogs.

I think he'd actually be pretty good to complement Holmes and Smith.

 

[Mofra]

I know people can shit can a lot of the reasons I’ll list, but I think it’s a pretty compelling argument.

Footscray is closest AFL town to his home town, played at western jets, went to school in Maribyrnong, family are bulldogs supporters, besides Port I reckon we’d be able to offer him the most cash of the teams he’d actually want to go to.

I just can’t imagine someone as competitive as him is going to want to go a team that is not in the finals mix yet like Essendon, Richmond, North.

I don’t see the Hawks happening at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if they even trade this years picks for next year so they can go for Reid.

I'd like to think so, but cash and opportunity trumps "homesickness" - Mitch Clark a perfect example.

 

[Lindsay_Gilbee]

I'd like to think so, but cash and opportunity trumps "homesickness" - Mitch Clark a perfect example.

Plus I’m well aware that an extra 45 minutes in the car to see your parents isn’t a deal breaker. But it’s the little thinks that could sway someone whose 50/50.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Bit of a contradiction to say he wasn't paid 1 million than say the AFL keep it all hush.
He could be earning 1m year one or two years than 800-900k one year if it wasn't 1 million a year than it was close to it.

Hawks are going to need to pay Nick Watson 1 million a year when he comes out of contract, I just can't see them getting Butters or Reid.

Oscar Allen will end up at the Hawks.

We know because AFL media all reported that Saints offered $900k to try to get it to band 1 and Hawks offer was less than that.

Hawks won’t need to pay Watson $1m just like they won’t need to pay Newcombe, Day or McKenzie $1m… these youngsters are consistently rubbing shouldered with 4 and 5 time premiership players who all tell them that they took less to have that level of success.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

I'm gonna trust Twomey going with Dogs and Cats, over Sam 'they won't take him Mitch', Manure, going with Hawks, Pies, Tigers and Bombers.

One actually has connections, the other is just an idiot who never gets a thing right.

Reckon Dogs are in the box seat for this one. Idolized Bont growing up. Family all big Doggies supporters. Fits their midfield to a tee.

Would kill to get him at Geelong, but I'm not sure he's what we need, to compliment Smith and Holmes, in the future. Makes more sense for the Dogs.

Im sure you do trust Twomey, when he says he is a chance to go to your club

Cal only rates his own mail

Even when he is wrong

 

[Foxman98]

Im sure you do trust Twomey, when he says he is a chance to go to your club

Cal only rates his own mail

Even when he is wrong

Yeah but when the only other comment is from Sam McClure "you don't know football if you don't have Carlton as clear flag favorites" "They're not gunna pick him Mitch" you tend to side with the one who has been a 8-9/10 for reliability

 

[Daka]

We know because AFL media all reported that Saints offered $900k to try to get it to band 1 and Hawks offer was less than that.

Hawks won’t need to pay Watson $1m just like they won’t need to pay Newcombe, Day or McKenzie $1m… these youngsters are consistently rubbing shouldered with 4 and 5 time premiership players who all tell them that they took less to have that level of success.

Compensation Picks are based off the club offer your going to not the current club your leaving, Hawthorn's offer would have been significant regardless if it was less then St Kilda's.

It's all good to have past premiership players tell you that they all took less for flags, I'm sure we even did it at Richmond, but times are changing, players more than ever want to be paid if not market value close to it, Managers don't want their players taking massive unders.

With Salary cap getting larger, it's about to get interesting with List Management from clubs you will see top of the ladder clubs attacked more often trying to squeeze one of their players out.

 

[kirbatron]

i cant see Butters at hawthorn - i dont think either party is interested. we will keep rivals honest though.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Yeah but when the only other comment is from Sam McClure "you don't know football if you don't have Carlton as clear flag favorites" "They're not gunna pick him Mitch" you tend to side with the one who has been a 8-9/10 for reliability

Thing is though, both of those statements were his opinions.

I feel bad for posting this and I’m not saying McClure is right, but when stating who is chasing a player or who is at the front of a queue for a player it’s more likely that the comment is being made based on what he has heard from either industry sources or other journo’s at the AGE.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Compensation Picks are based off the club offer your going to not the current club your leaving, Hawthorn's offer would have been significant regardless if it was less then St Kilda's.

It's all good to have past premiership players tell you that they all took less for flags, I'm sure we even did it at Richmond, but times are changing, players more than ever want to be paid if not market value close to it, Managers don't want their players taking massive unders.

With Salary cap getting larger, it's about to get interesting with List Management from clubs you will see top of the ladder clubs attacked more often trying to squeeze one of their players out.

Of course, the compensation picks are based on how much the player is given, but there’s also a whole bunch of different factors the AFL secretly add to the compo decision without letting everyone know why it is that they came to that conclusion.

That’s why it’s silly to say St Kilda got band 1 compo therefore Hawthorn gave battle a band 1 contract.

And I completely disagree with you that things have changed for players regarding wanting to stick together.

 

[ShadowCat]

Im sure you do trust Twomey, when he says he is a chance to go to your club

Cal only rates his own mail

Even when he is wrong

Twomey gets things right a fair bit of the time. McLure gets things right, rarely. It's got nothing to do with where I think he will end up. Just who I objectively trust.

If Twomey said Reid was a chance to go to Hawthorn, and McLure said Geelong, guess whose opinion I'd be siding with? Hint, it's not McLure.

 

[bobs head soup]

Us Dogs fans are conditioned to accept that we never land a big fish, so I'm normally pretty unexcited when we're linked to a star of the game

This one feels a bit different though

Aside from Butters being a Dogs fan with family not far away, it's pretty apparent we've been building a sizeable war chest over the past year or 2.

We didn't fight real hard to keep Smith, Daniel or Macrae last trade period, which by all reports clears $2 mill or more of cap space.

At a time when the cap is growing and Jamarra may well also leave, opening up another $800k or so, we are clearly preparing for something pretty substantial, even allowing for a portion of that going to re-signings.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Im sure you do trust Twomey, when he says he is a chance to go to your club

Cal only rates his own mail

Even when he is wrong

I think Twomey is generally pretty accurate in his reporting because he has a set gig about drafting. He actually doesn't need to report anything about trades because it's not his bread and butter, there's not much upside for him to report a scoop. There is downside though for his credibility if he gets it wrong so i generally think he doesn't go to press with anything he's not confident in.

I also reckon he'd be pretty keen on kicking it to Darcy

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I know people can shit can a lot of the reasons I’ll list, but I think it’s a pretty compelling argument.

Footscray is closest AFL town to his home town, played at western jets, went to school in Maribyrnong, family are bulldogs supporters, besides Port I reckon we’d be able to offer him the most cash of the teams he’d actually want to go to.

I just can’t imagine someone as competitive as him is going to want to go a team that is not in the finals mix yet like Essendon, Richmond, North.

I don’t see the Hawks happening at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if they even trade this years picks for next year so they can go for Reid.

Yeah there's quite a lot of things that would swing him your way.