{"id":606182,"date":"2026-04-14T12:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606182\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T12:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:01:14","slug":"reaction-to-zak-butters-guilty-tribunal-finding-what-did-he-say-to-umpire-nick-foot-port-adelaide-power-midweek-tackle-afl-360-will-they-appeal-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606182\/","title":{"rendered":"Reaction to Zak Butters guilty Tribunal finding, what did he say to umpire Nick Foot, Port Adelaide Power, Midweek Tackle, AFL 360, will they appeal, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aggressive fallout has ensued following Zak Butters\u2019 $1,500 fine for umpire abuse on Tuesday night,<\/a> as the Port Adelaide superstar remains \u201ccompletely filthy\u201d with the AFL Tribunal\u2019s finding. <\/p>\n

Butters received the fine after allegedly asking umpire Nick Foot \u201chow much are they paying you?\u201d after a contentious free kick was awarded to St Kilda on Sunday night.<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old provided a short statement after the finding outside Alberton Oval on Tuesday evening, saying: \u201cI\u2019m clearly disappointed with the result tonight. I stand by knowing what I said and what I didn\u2019t say, especially what I didn\u2019t say. I\u2019d like to thank the club for their support. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dissecting the Tribunal\u2019s verdict on Fox Footy\u2019s Midweek Tackle, panellist Jon Ralph revealed the Power\u2019s next steps in defending Butters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still mind-blowing how far those two statements are apart. I\u2019ve spoken to Port Adelaide, they are angry and bemused. It\u2019s fair to say that Zak Butters is completely filthy,\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two options for them to consider (for an appeal). That no Tribunal could reasonably have come to this decision, or it\u2019s an error of law. Clearly, the former is much more enticing in regards to a Tribunal case or appeal that would come out on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a $10,000 fee. It is the easiest $10,000 decision that this club has ever made, to try and defend the honour of Zak. Their feeling is they can make this decision because Zak is playing on Saturday. We can remove him from the process, he doesn\u2019t have to be involved in it, and in the background we defend his honour.<\/p>\n

‘I know what I said and what I didn’t!’ | 00:40<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AFLPA is ropeable as well. Their CEO James Gallagher, who is new in the job, will come off the top row in defence of Butters. He has already spoken to Zak, who is incandescent with rage. It\u2019s time for James Gallagher to make a really strong stand in regards to the AFL. It is a tough case with no winners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butters\u2019 case was peculiarly held alongside that of St Kilda player Lance Collard, who was handed a nine-week suspension<\/a> (two weeks suspended) after being found guilty of using an anti-gay slur in a VFL match last month.<\/p>\n

Another unspoken negative within what looms as an inevitable appeal from Port Adelaide though, is the cost of lawyers and those involved in the hearings process revealed Midweek Tackle host Lauren Wood.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would have to argue the winners were the lawyers. The protracted nature of this means that the cost to the game becomes astronomical. The cost to the league, the cost to the clubs,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to someone who works really closely in this field, and has intimate knowledge of the Tribunal system. They estimated that tonight\u2019s hearing, which went for just over two hours, would be $30,000 minimum by their estimation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that a lot of these representatives often have club links, so there\u2019s not necessarily the full back rate at different times … but the overall cost to the landscape is astronomical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Umpire audio for Butters abuse charge | 01:54<\/p>\n

Earlier on Fox Footy AFL 360 host Gerard Whateley dissected what he believes was what ultimately saw Butters fined by the Tribunal, as he and teammate Ollie Wines protested innocence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the problem that I\u2019ve seen routinely with players. There ended up being gentle inconsistencies between Butters and Wines\u2019 version of events,\u201d Whateley began.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much did Butters say as he was led through the cross-examination? He settled on that he said only one thing, and it couldn\u2019t have been any other moment than when the 50-metre penalty was paid. Wines said that he (Butters) said a few things along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWines spoke much more than Butters did throughout. Butters said that he didn\u2019t really hear everything that Wines said, Wines said he heard everything that Butters said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frustratingly for all parties, no audio was detected from Foot\u2019s umpire microphone, despite clear wording from him and players on either side of the incident.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it saw Foot vindicated in his testimony despite the two players protesting against the one umpire\u2019s recollection.<\/p>\n

Butters tribunal + Gather Round Injuries | 23:37<\/p>\n

\u201cThe microphone picked up none of it. It was described as the \u2018gaping hole\u2019 in the evidence, which is quite right. But, it didn\u2019t pick up anything Wines said as well as nothing Butters said,\u201d Whateley added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you had to come to a verdict singularly on the testimony that was offered and the quality of the evidence, you would have come down on the side of the umpire. How that serves the overall, and whether that\u2019s a satisfactory outcome … Everyone will have their own mind on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s entirely possible that if Butters muttered something at the end, Wines wouldn\u2019t have heard it … it\u2019s very unsatisfactory to be honest, having sat through it. But, if you had to land one way or the other, it was going to land with the more compelling witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melbourne great Garry Lyon added : \u201cWell then the fine is light. If the AFL have come to a conclusion, whether you agree or disagree with it, then they are saying that it is right that Zak Butters has accused Foot of being paid to pay free kicks deliberately. Therefore, $1,500 is light!<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it is (a smart alec comment) remark … but maybe they realised it was hard to come to an agreement, so they gave him the $1,500 and got on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Collingwood and Carlton player Dale Thomas was fined $7,500 back in 2019 for calling a boundary umpire a \u201cf***ing cheat\u201d during a game against GWS.<\/p>\n

Frustratingly for the Power, the club will need to wait until tomorrow for the Tribunal\u2019s explanation on its guilty ruling for Butters, halting their chance to file for an appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aggressive fallout has ensued following Zak Butters\u2019 $1,500 fine for umpire abuse on Tuesday night, as the Port…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-606182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606182","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=606182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}