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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
The 25-year-old returns home to his family\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
If he is to leave, however, his destination is not cut and dry. <\/p>\n
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\u2019t go unnoticed.<\/p>\n
While he was also seen playing golf with Essendon stars Darcy Parish and Sam Durham, and his manager, in the off-season.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWherever I saw one of them \u2014 both of them were there throughout the whole Origin week \u2014 and they were besties,\u201d Daniels said on the Hard Ball Gets podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNick Daicos and Zak Butters were inseparable. This felt like a new relationship that had just been sparked up.\u201d<\/p>\n In the episode\u2019s \u2018hottest takes\u2019 segment, he also doubled down, stating he\u2019s tipping he joins Collingwood at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe think Collingwood is going off a cliff, but inject Butters, and suddenly you\u2019re feeling pretty good about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201c(I\u2019m tipping) we\u2019ll hear it by the end of the year that he won\u2019t sign (with Port), and he\u2019ll head to the Pies.\u201d<\/p>\n