{"id":606501,"date":"2026-04-14T15:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606501\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T15:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:34:10","slug":"afl-2026-zak-butters-tribunal-hearing-live-updates-missing-audio-mystery-kochie-defends-his-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606501\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Zak Butters Tribunal hearing live updates: Missing audio mystery, Kochie defends his man"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Port Adelaide star Zak Butters\u2019 charge of questioning umpire Nick Foot\u2019s integrity has been upheld, with a tribunal enforcing a $1500 fine on the AFL star.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence was given to the tribunal on Tuesday evening after it was alleged Butters said to umpire Foot \u201cHow much are they paying you?\u201d during his side\u2019s loss to St Kilda.<\/p>\n<p>Butters denied this, insisting he actually said words to the effect of \u201cHow is that a free-kick?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who gave evidence at the tribunal included Butters, Foot, Power midfielder Ollie Wines, and Port Adelaide General Manager Ben Rutten.<\/p>\n<p>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? <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/?extcamp=ncaeditoriallink-ptr-nca-lnk-awr-acq-var-kyo&amp;channel=nca&amp;campaign=editorial\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>After hearing both arguments, the tribunal deliberated for around 30 minutes, before confirming that the charge would be upheld and a $1500 fine issued.<\/p>\n<p>Reasons for the decision will be communicated to both parties tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to the decision, Butters, who arrived for the tribunal in a t-shirt with the word \u201cListen\u201d printed on it, said: \u201cI\u2019m clearly disappointed with the result tonight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI 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 the support. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The matter was complicated after the <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/sport\/afl\/missing-audio-afl-world-rages-as-zak-butters-umpire-head-to-tribunal\/news-story\/dd98e9db039c8947091fcd5de7cb4f9d\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.news.com.au\" data-tgev=\"event119\" data-tgev-container=\"bodylink\" data-tgev-order=\"dd98e9db039c8947091fcd5de7cb4f9d\" data-tgev-label=\"sport\" data-tgev-metric=\"ev\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">microphone audio<\/a> capturing what Butters said was inconclusive.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Seven\u2019s Xander McGuire immediately after the siren of the Power\u2019s 81-67 loss to St Kilda, the out-of-contract midfielder was unwavering in his defence of the incident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d love to know the language that I said, because I went up to him after the game and obviously just to have a chat \u2014 like any two humans do,\u201d Butters said.\u201cHe said he didn\u2019t want to speak to me. All I said was: \u2018How was that a free kick?\u2019 He gave it 50, and said I\u2019m on report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a few teammates right next to me, Ollie Wines. I\u2019m curious to follow that one up, because I\u2019m never going to say anything bad to the umpire. I just want to follow up and ask what he thought I said from his end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When queried by McGuire on whether any expletives were used, Butters responded: \u201cGenuinely no swear words (or) any bad language. That\u2019s why I was curious and obviously a bit frustrated, because it led to a goal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I\u2019m a pretty honest bloke out there and have a good relationship with most umpires. I\u2019m sure the club will deal with that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d fight it (any charge) to the hills, because I know what I said, and I know I didn\u2019t say anything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The free kick came at a costly time for the hosts, who went on to kick four of the next five goals to get back within nine points before ultimately falling short.<\/p>\n<p>First-year Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr found himself somewhat frustrated by inconsistencies in the umpiring throughout the night.\\<\/p>\n<p>In the first quarter, especially, Fox Footy commentators debated several instances where St Kilda players potentially initiated contact with their heads before being awarded a free kick.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/3c477ca01167ee4f718d795132c5701b\" data-sctrack=\"op-poster-img\" alt=\"Zak Butters marched for umpire abuse\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t handle the frees that well. Was that them getting their head over the footy? I don\u2019t know if it was consistent on both sides of the footy with the frees&#8230; but that\u2019s definitely not what hurt us,\u201d Carr told journalists post-game.<\/p>\n<p>When quizzed on Butters\u2019 report, he responded: \u201cI don\u2019t know the details to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fox Footy reporter David Zita detailed what the standard procedure for an alleged offence of this kind will entail in the next 48 to 72 hours post-game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can see him getting told by the umpire he is on report. He seemed quite shocked by it, and the teammates around him seemed quite shocked by it as well,\u201d Zita said post-match.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis normally ends up in the fixed financial offences category. Michael Christian, the MRO (Match Review Officer), you would suspect would get a report lodged from the umpire as to what was said. Then, he makes a determination from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Port Adelaide have a six-day break before their Round 6 clash with Hawthorn on Saturday afternoon at Marvel Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Read related topics:<a class=\"topic_tag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/topics\/adelaide\" data-tgev-container=\"story-topic-links\" data-tgev-label=\"Adelaide\" data-tgev-order=\"1\" data-tgev-metric=\"npv\" data-tgev=\"event10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Adelaide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Port Adelaide star Zak Butters\u2019 charge of questioning umpire Nick Foot\u2019s integrity has been upheld, with a tribunal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,244438,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-606501","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-ncaeditorialkayo","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606501","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=606501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}