{"id":460102,"date":"2026-02-05T13:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460102\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T13:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:09:26","slug":"former-port-adelaide-coach-ken-hinkley-comments-on-zak-butters-trade-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460102\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley comments on Zak Butters’ trade decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Port Adelaide<\/a> coach Ken Hinkley<\/a> expects Zak Butters to command upwards of $2m per season in the upcoming trade period, whether he stays or goes.<\/p>\n

The Power midfielder is out of contract at the end of 2026, and has been strongly linked with a return home to Victoria.<\/p>\n

This will lead to a bidding war as every team attempts to persuade the superstar their way. <\/p>\n

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\"Zak<\/p>\n

Zak Butters of the Power with Ken Hinkley.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hinkley, who coached Butters for his entire career to this point, said it would be a difficult year of decision-making for the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

“I reckon it’s going to be a question I get asked a bit, and I’ve got a really clear answer on Zak,” the ex-Power coach told SEN.<\/p>\n

“Zak loves home; there’s no doubt about that. He loves his family, he loves his home. But he loves his footy club, he loves Port Adelaide and he loves his teammates.<\/p>\n

“He’s got a really challenging decision [to make]. I’ve heard Zak say this himself this pre-season that it’s not a decision that he will make quickly or lightly.<\/p>\n

“He will make it somewhere near the end of the year. It might even be right at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

“I think he’s going to have a real challenge with either one – leaving Port Adelaide or going home.”<\/p>\n

St Kilda star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera became the game’s highest-ever paid player at the end of 2025, re-signing with the Saints on a two-year deal worth $2m per season.<\/p>\n

Young West Coast midfielder Harley Reid reportedly signed a similar contract extension shortly after. <\/p>\n

\"Zak<\/p>\n

Zak Butters.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hinkley expects Butters will join that club, potentially on a much longer-term deal. <\/p>\n

“What (Zak) won’t have is any lack of income,” Hinkley added.<\/p>\n

“You are the beneficiary of the market you live in. For him the market has gone gangbusters, it’s blown the roof, it’s taken off.<\/p>\n

“Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera has taken off over $2m and those sort of numbers. If that’s what the numbers are then Zak Butters is going to be at the very top of those numbers.<\/p>\n

“The highest-paid players deserve every bit they get. The game has grown unbelievably, it is so big now and the best players deserve the best money.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to have your stars and your stars have got to get paid like stars, and $2 million is the new normal for the stars.”<\/p>\n

If Butters does choose to depart Port Adelaide, the club can use his restricted free agency status to match any offer that comes his way.<\/p>\n

Given he is one of the game’s top midfielders, they are likely to match any price for their back-to-back-to-back best and fairest.<\/p>\n

This will force Butters, and his club of choice, into a situation where they will have to trade for him.<\/p>\n

He has been linked strongly with the Western Bulldogs, the team he grew up supporting, while Carlton, Essendon, Hawthorn and Geelong have also been mentioned. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley expects Zak Butters to command upwards of $2m per season in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-460102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}