![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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Hall of Fame Legend Leigh Matthews doesn\u2019t believe clubs such as Geelong and the Western Bulldogs can afford to pay Zak Butters $2 million or more and remain in premiership contention. <\/p>\n
The Cats and Dogs are thought to be the leading candidates to secure top free agent Butters\u2019 services at the end of this season. <\/p>\n
But Matthews, speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s On the Couch, believes top-class players like Butters, despite their immense value on the market, \u201chave got to take less to keep a good team together\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThought occurred to me \u2014 you guys (Jack Riewoldt and Jordan Lewis) both played in premiership eras, and to keep an era together, I don\u2019t think a Geelong or Bulldogs \u2026 I don\u2019t know whether those kinds of clubs can invest a couple million dollars in any player,\u201d he said on Fox Footy. <\/p>\n
\u201c(The idea of) worth is supply and demand; it\u2019s only worth what someone\u2019s prepared to offer you \u2026 all I\u2019m saying is, from Geelong and the Bulldogs\u2019 point of view, they\u2019ve got good groups and good squads together. <\/p>\n
\u201cMarcus Bontempelli \u2014 you couldn\u2019t pay him $1.3 million and bring in Butters at $2 million, could you? \u2026 keeping teams together, you know, you\u2019ve got to take less to keep a good team together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis, a four-time premiership player, explained that players from his and Riewoldt\u2019s eras of flag success would have \u201cstrong opinions one way\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that is against paying someone 1, 1.5, 2 million dollars, to then sacrifice a little bit of money to get them in,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Riewoldt asked Lewis if that was \u201con the club (offering the deal) or on Butters\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends what he wants. I mean, there\u2019s evidence out there that suggests that if you take a little bit less to get success, you then might further your career in anything you do post-football,\u201d Lewis said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s the challenge. And I think some clubs, historically, have held a hard line, and I think it\u2019s worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Butters decides to leave Port Adelaide at year\u2019s end, not only will the acquiring club have to fork out a pretty penny to woo him over, but it\u2019ll also need to arrange a high-priced trade as the Power will almost certainly match a contending offer for the restricted free agent.<\/p>\n
‘Neither of them are backing down’ Lyon | 06:27<\/p>\n
WHY THERE\u2019S \u2018GROWING HOPE\u2019 OF AFL CHANGE OF HEART<\/p>\n
There\u2019s reportedly \u201cgrowing hope\u201d from clubs that the AFL could \u201cwater down\u201d on its proposed draft changes. <\/p>\n
The big tweak widely expected to be introduced this year was that clubs would only be allowed to match rival bids with a maximum of two picks \u2014 and given the ranging values attached to picks, they\u2019d be giving up premium selections. <\/p>\n
It\u2019d mean that unlike Gold Coast and Brisbane have done most expertly in recent years, clubs would not be able to use a raft of less-valuable draft selections to meet the points total required to match. <\/p>\n
But with the draft in November and six rounds of this season already in the books, the AFL has still yet to finalise its changes, causing angst in clubland. <\/p>\n
And Nine\u2019s Damian Barrett reports that after a \u201clast-ditch\u201d Port Adelaide plea, there\u2019s some \u201chope\u201d from clubs about a change of heart from the league. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey (the Power) seized the opportunity of having all the AFL heavies in their town over the weekend (in Gather Round),\u201d Barrett began on Nine\u2019s Footy Classified. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhereby chairman David Koch and chief executive officer Matthew Richardson made sure to get well and truly in front of the AFL Commission chairman Craig Drummond and the AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, and others, to have a last-ditch bid to have the AFL delay the mooted changes to the national draft, which would ultimately see them have to pay a whole lot more draft currency for upcoming father-son players. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve had this last-ditch pitch, and I think the AFL has listened; they\u2019ve listened to Carlton and Essendon as well in this space \u2014 they\u2019ve listened to the clubs. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the expectation was that it was going to be introduced for the 2026 period, but we are now mid-April \u2026 and the AFL still hasn\u2019t articulated exactly how it looks. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think there\u2019s a growing hope, at least from some of these clubs that are mostly adversely affected, potentially that they will water down ever so slightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Port Adelaide is among the clubs most hoping things can stay the same for a little bit longer, as it has top club-tied Next Generation Academy prospect Dougie Cochrane poised to come to the club this year, as well as Zemes Pilot (NGA-tied), Louis Salopek (father-son) and Tevita Rodan (father-son) next year. <\/p>\n
Carlton, meanwhile, will be looking to bring in likely top-five prospect Cody Walker as a father-son pick, while Essendon has father-son gun Koby Bewick on the cards for 2027. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Hall of Fame Legend has made an eye-opening statement about clubs looking to acquire Zak Butters this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[294461,638,294145,12259,64,63,689,55,15824,639,5175,1653,146518,13657,64596,294464,294458,294460,169273,11235,13037,294466,294463,1127,107302,13659,2105,2485,294465,1823,19080,294459,41565,647,7198,15700,677,6082,15826,294457,6264,701,672,166610,1124,85,294467,660,698,294462],"class_list":{"0":"post-605005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-acquiring-club","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-agent-market","11":"tag-andrew-dillon","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","15":"tag-australian-football-league","16":"tag-australian-football-league-commission","17":"tag-australianfootballleague","18":"tag-chief-executive-officer","19":"tag-cody-walker","20":"tag-craig-drummond","21":"tag-damian-barrett","22":"tag-david-koch","23":"tag-draft-changes","24":"tag-eye-opening-statement","25":"tag-fame-legend-leigh-matthews","26":"tag-father-son-gun","27":"tag-father-son-pick","28":"tag-father-son-players","29":"tag-flag-success","30":"tag-four-time-premiership-player","31":"tag-fox-footy","32":"tag-gary-lyon","33":"tag-geelong-cats","34":"tag-getty-images-inc","35":"tag-gold-coast","36":"tag-growing-hope","37":"tag-jack-riewoldt","38":"tag-jordan-lewis","39":"tag-less-valuable-draft-selections","40":"tag-matthew-richardson","41":"tag-melbourne","42":"tag-michael-willson","43":"tag-next-generation-academy","44":"tag-oceania","45":"tag-port-adelaide","46":"tag-premiership-contention","47":"tag-premiership-eras","48":"tag-price-tag","49":"tag-queensland","50":"tag-richmond-tigers","51":"tag-rival-bids","52":"tag-south-australia","53":"tag-sports","54":"tag-top-class-players","55":"tag-victoria","56":"tag-western-bulldogs","57":"tag-zak-butters-price"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605005","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=605005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}