As the 2026 AFL season rapidly approaches, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive with Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters and Nick Daicos reportedly striking up a close friendship during the AFL State of Origin camp.
Butters is the highest-profile player coming into the final year of his contract in 2026, and a host of Victorian clubs are on high alert and hoping to lure him back to his home state.
The 25-year-old returns home to his family’s property in Darley every chance he gets, and therefore rumours have been swirling for months that moving to a Victorian side is on the cards.
If he is to leave, however, his destination is not cut and dry.
The Western Bulldogs and Essendon have the closest bases to his hometown, and his deep and meaningful conversations with Dogs players at the Brownlow last year didn’t go unnoticed.
While he was also seen playing golf with Essendon stars Darcy Parish and Sam Durham, and his manager, in the off-season.
And now there are rumours suggesting Collingwood are right in the running for his signature, with Ryan Danield reporting Butters and Daicos struck up quite the friendship in their time together at Origin.
“Wherever I saw one of them — both of them were there throughout the whole Origin week — and they were besties,” Daniels said on the Hard Ball Gets podcast.
“Nick Daicos and Zak Butters were inseparable. This felt like a new relationship that had just been sparked up.”
In the episode’s ‘hottest takes’ segment, he also doubled down, stating he’s tipping he joins Collingwood at season’s end.
“We think Collingwood is going off a cliff, but inject Butters, and suddenly you’re feeling pretty good about it,” he said.
“(I’m tipping) we’ll hear it by the end of the year that he won’t sign (with Port), and he’ll head to the Pies.”
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