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SUITOR STILL PLANNING \u2018FORMAL\u2019 BUTTERS MEETING<\/p>\n
A \u201cformal meeting\u201d between Geelong and Zak Butters is reportedly still being planned as the superstar free agent caught up with other suitors earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The Western Bulldogs, Richmond and Collingwood are also in pursuit of the 25-year old as the Port Adelaide jet weighs up his future. <\/p>\n
According to Seven\u2019s Mitch Cleary, a meeting between the Cats and Butters remains in play and may have been affected by Max Holmes\u2019 syndesmosis injury, given the club\u2019s preference to pitch with its stars.<\/p>\n
Dangerfield out of Collingwood clash! | 00:54<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe there is still a meeting to be had between Zak Butters and Geelong that is on the cards,\u201d Cleary said on Seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dare say this meeting may have already happened in the last couple of weeks if it wasn\u2019t for Max Holmes\u2019 injury. He\u2019s currently couch bound, he\u2019s not too mobile with that ankle injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cats love to roll out their stars when it comes to these meetings. They like to wine and dine in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this just highlights that Zak Butters is still in his decision-making process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Butters is racing the clock to return for the 15th-placed Power this season as he recovers from a syndesmosis injury.<\/p>\n
COMBEN SIGNS MONSTER ROOS EXTENSION AFTER TASSIE INTEREST<\/p>\n
You can cross Charlie Comben off Tasmania\u2019s hit list.<\/p>\n
The Kangaroos defender has signed a monster six-year extension to tie him to the club until at least 2033.<\/p>\n
AFL journalist Tom Morris first reported Comben\u2019s new deal that \u201cindustry sources\u201d suggest would be worth around $5 million in total.<\/p>\n
Comben was set to be a restricted free agent next year and considered a target for the Devils ahead of the 19th club\u2019s AFL entry in 2028.<\/p>\n
Saints WON’T trade Max King | 02:35<\/p>\n
Bu the 25-year old has committed his future to Arden Street in a key coup for Alastair Clarkson\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Comben has played 66 games for North since being drafted with the No. 31 pick in 2019.<\/p>\n
It follows new deals for fellow Kangaroos Harry Sheezel (two-year extension until 2032) and Finn O\u2019Sullivan (two-year extension until 2029) in recent weeks. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile youngsters Zane Duursma and Riley Hardeman remain uncontracted beyond 2026.<\/p>\n
HAWKS FORWARD \u2018TOP OF LIST\u2019 FOR RECRUITERS AT VFL CLASH<\/p>\n
Recruiters from at least five clubs were at last weekend\u2019s Essendon-Hawthorn VFL clash featuring several intriguing names including Calsher Dear.<\/p>\n
Journalist Tom Morris reports Richmond, Collingwood, Melbourne, Geelong and Gold Coast were among the clubs with list management onlookers at the lower level game that involved several players that could be gettable. <\/p>\n
That included fellow Hawks Sam Butler and Finn Maginness (both contracted until 2027) as well as Bombers Darcy Parish (2029), Harry Jones (2027), Archie Perkins and Elijah Tsatas (coming out of contract).<\/p>\n
Hawthorn’s crazy 2027 possible team | 03:52<\/p>\n
Dear is seen as the one that\u2019s highest on rivals radars after reports that the Hawks are set to land Suns free agent Ben King, which would push the youngster further down the forward pecking order, in addition to Mitch Lewis and Jack Gunston signing extensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI doubt there would be a game this year that had more eyes on it from a recruiting and list management perspective,\u201d Morris said on Seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at some of these names, that I think are all good enough to be on an AFL list somewhere and many of them are out of contract at the end of the year or out of favour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main name I reckon these recruiters were watching \u2014 Calsher Dear. I reckon Dear is at the top of the list.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u2018formal meeting\u2019 between Zak Butters and one of his suitors is still yet to take place. Plus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-832515","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\/832515","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=832515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}