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<\/p>\n
Butters has remained steadfast this year that he\u2019ll make a call on his high-profile footy future at the end of the season. <\/p>\n
It comes as the Western Bulldogs reportedly continue to lead the race to land the superstar midfielder\u2019s free agency signature. <\/p>\n
Geelong, Collingwood and Richmond are also pursuing the 25-year-old Victorian, with the latter tabling an eight-year deal worth $18 million. <\/p>\n
Ahead of Saturday\u2019s Showdown, Butters was probed on the idea of making a call mid-season for the sake of ending the speculation and finishing the year unburdened. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard that brought up a bit, and I\u2019ve probably thought about it myself, but I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right way to go about it,\u201d he told reporters in Adelaide. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe league\u2019s probably not quite ready for it – I feel like if you look at the NRL, and the chaos it causes with contracts and player movement, I\u2019d probably tend to stick away from it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like how I\u2019ve handled it and the club\u2019s handled it has been pretty good, so I\u2019ve been more than satisfied with where that\u2019s been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked in a follow-up if that meant Butters wouldn\u2019t reveal his decision now if he\u2019d already made it, he confirmed: \u201cCorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Butters\u2019 response comes after Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said he wasn\u2019t keen on the prospect of the AFL adopting the NRL\u2019s player movement model. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to go down the NRL track,\u201d Beveridge defiantly said earlier this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a really difficult thing club-wise to know that one of your own players has gone: \u2018I\u2019m leaving\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, they\u2019d be treated a bit differently and I mean, you don\u2019t want to, but if they\u2019re not your player beyond that year, you can\u2019t help but be emotional about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 20: Nick Daicos of the Magpies and Zak Butters of the Power push each other during the 2026 AFL Round 15 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Port Adelaide Power at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on June 20, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by James Wiltshire\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Butters was also asked where he presently sat in terms of making his decision, though his answer was predictable. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting closer and closer (to the end of the season), but nothing has really changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll make my decision at the end of the year and will sit down with the club and my manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe footy club, my coaches, teammates and staff have been great. I love playing footy there and coming to work there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zak Butters says the footy industry isn\u2019t ready for premature player movement decisions, such is the case in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-754609","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\/754609","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=754609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}