Zak Butters has admitted the time is approaching to seriously consider what the rest of the AFL has been discussing all year. The Port Adelaide star midfielder revealed that his decision on where to play from next season will be an emotional one, regardless of the outcome.
The AFL's most sought-after player insists he has yet to properly weigh the multi-million dollar offers from rival clubs to return to his native Victoria when his contract with Port expires at the end of the season.
“It’s obviously a big decision,” Butters told reporters on Wednesday. “You think about everything ... there’s emotion attached to it, definitely. No matter what the decision is, it’s going to be a pretty emotional one from my end, no matter what I do.”
Butters will play his 150th AFL game on Saturday night when the Power host Carlton at Adelaide Oval. The club champion for the past three seasons will then return to his family home in Darley, about 55km north-west of Melbourne, during the Power's bye the following weekend.
“Honestly, I haven’t even spoken to my family too much about it,” he said. “I have just really enjoyed having them at games and playing footy. And I always said I’d probably think about it more in the back half of the year. Just like 150 games, it creeps up on you quickly. So it’s probably something I need to start having some conversations around with family and friends and people I’m closest to.”
The Western Bulldogs and Geelong are considered at the front of a long queue of clubs trying to lure the 25-year-old. However, the dynamic on-baller said there was a romance in being a one-club player, like Port icons Travis Boak and Robbie Gray, both Victorian-born stars who resisted offers to return home during their careers.
Butters has continued to excel despite his looming decision, averaging a career-high 31 disposals a game. “It’s my job to play footy, I enjoy playing footy as well,” he said. “It’s really exciting where the group is at the moment, a few young boys coming through. I look back and think I need to be what Travis (Boak) and Robbie (Gray), how they were for me. Footy clubs go on a cycle. It’s my time now to give back to them and try and make them the best player they can be.”
