{"id":672332,"date":"2026-05-15T10:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/672332\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T10:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:03:14","slug":"afl-2026-port-adelaide-coach-josh-carr-opens-up-on-relationship-with-star-zak-butters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/672332\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr opens up on relationship with star Zak Butters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JakeSave<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr has detailed how he and Port Adelaide have handled the decision facing Zak Butters on whether he returns to Victoria, reiterating the hard line on compensation that the club will take if their champion and free agent chooses to leave.<\/p>\n

Carr said the Butters discussion, one of the major AFL stories of 2026, had not impacted on team performance, and that he and Butters had been \u201creally open with each other\u201d about his situation.<\/p>\n

\"PortPort Adelaide coach says his lines of communication with star playmaker Zak Butters are open as the Victorian considers his options as a free agent.AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Carr also made a strong case for the AFL to amend a problem in the bidding system rule change, highlighting the problem facing not just Port Adelaide but potentially any of the 18 clubs in 2027 when Tasmania will have the lion\u2019s share of the first round of the national draft.<\/p>\n

While Butters is exploring a move back to Victoria<\/a> \u2013 with the Bulldogs and Geelong viewed as frontrunners for him \u2013 the Port Adelaide coach said the club had achieved a scenario in which Butters and the Power had put the team first, without affecting team performance this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been there myself as a player,\u201d Carr told this masthead in an exclusive interview before the Power\u2019s game in Darwin, speaking of Butters. Carr navigated a trade to Fremantle after Port won the 2004 premiership.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Farewell<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone understands when a player comes out of contract, they\u2019ve got every right to explore and understand what\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we understand that players do want to go home, and we want to bring players back to Adelaide that are from Adelaide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr indicated, too, that Port retained an interest in Saints star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera if he explored a move, the Saints gun having signed only a two-year extension last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to understand the landscape, I think the maturity of us as a footy club, but also Zak himself, is about now and about our investment in the football club right now, and making sure we\u2019re all getting better.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he\u2019s a great leader of our footy club. He leads by example. He demands high standards around the footy club, and that hasn\u2019t stopped, and so we\u2019ve been really honest with each other about what that looks like, and about making sure we put the team first, and, and that\u2019s been the goal for everyone, and feel like that\u2019s being achieved right now.<\/p>\n

\"PortPort Adelaide have made a competitive start in Josh Carr\u2019s maiden season as senior coach.AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always really, really open with each other and what it looks like. But again, what it ends up coming back to is making sure the team isn\u2019t being affected. And I don\u2019t think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Power have been highly competitive in Carr\u2019s maiden season as senior coach, toppling Geelong and almost beating Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

He is unequivocal the club will match any offer for Butters if the player exercises his free agency rights, which would then force a trade. Butters would fetch just one first round choice for the Power if they let simply leave, but in a trade Port will demand far more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not even really a discussion \u2026 we will match it. So whatever it is, it\u2019ll be matched,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n

Like Carlton, Port has rights to a potential No.1 pick in this year\u2019s this draft \u2013 academy recruit Doug Cochrane. But Carr said the Power were not thinking of Cochrane \u2013 who could cost the draft equivalent to picks four and eight if a bid was made for him at No.1 \u2013 as an effective swap for Butters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not really thinking about it like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Tasmania\u2019s impact on draft bids in 2027 \u2013 when the Power will have the rights to take highly rated youngster Louis Salopek as a father-son selection and potentially another recruit from their next-generation academy \u2013 Carr said the AFL needed to consider all clubs, not simply the Devils, with its 2027 draft rules.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

The league has made the price higher for clubs with rights to father-son and academy players, with two picks the maximum that can be used to match a bid under the revised system.<\/p>\n

Port\u2019s position is not to oppose Tasmania\u2019s draft haul, which will include picks 1,3, 5, 7, 9 and more.<\/p>\n

They want the bid to be in line with ladder position, and their \u201cnatural\u201d pick rather than the skewed order created by Tasmania owning the lion\u2019s share of the early part of the draft. If the AFL uses the actual 2027 picks \u2013 irrespective of ladder order \u2013 clubs will find it harder to match bids.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my point of view as a coach, we do everything we can to get those players, and we will, and there\u2019s still a bit to go with what next year looks like with Tasmania coming in,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just hope the AFL are thinking about everyone, we\u2019re not just Tasmania when it comes to those decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo right now, if it keeps going like it is, the value of our pick could slide off on the back of what Tasmania have.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s conversations being had, and we hope it comes into consideration that, you know, whoever it is \u2013 it\u2019s not just us \u2013 it is all AFL clubs, that if you have a pick, that value holds with the bids that come in from Tassie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr said Port tried hard to lure Wanganeen-Milera last year and retained an interest if he was open to a move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need to go into details as far as me and that, but to say that I put a lot of work in, like every club, to get the best players in the competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Charlie<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one it would have been nice to … get him over to, or back to, Adelaide. But that\u2019s the way it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want good players. Want to bring the players back to Adelaide, and if he\u2019s open to a move, then we\u2019ll be having those conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr said gun midfielder Jason Horne-Francis, the No.1 draft pick of 2021, had matured in how he prepared for the AFL, agreeing with those who likened the powerful matchwinner to Hawthorn\u2019s Luke Hodge, who took time to become a superstar in comparison to West Coast\u2019s Chris Judd when they both emerged from the 2001 draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if you look at the way he\u2019s prepared himself now, like physically, he looks elite now; the way he looks after his body and his understanding of what it takes to be a professional footballer. He\u2019s got so much upside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s fair (comparison). He loves football, but he loves his mates as well. \u201d<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"JakeJake Niall<\/a> is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-672332","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\/672332","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=672332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}