Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nLast week\u2019s clash between the Western Bulldogs and Richmond would\u2019ve had one particularly interested onlooker. This week, that same person will also be eagerly watching Collingwood play Geelong on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Butters is weighing up interest from those four Victorian clubs as the game\u2019s most highly sought-after superstar in footy.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s a bidding war, it\u2019s understood Richmond has the best offer on the table; a record $18 million deal over eight years that\u2019s front-ended.<\/p>\n
Granted, Butters is going to be well paid wherever he goes, with the Dogs\u2019 offer believed to be worth as much as $1.7 million per season. <\/p>\n
Collingwood and Geelong would also be willing to splurge.<\/p>\n
Zak Butters is a free agent (Photo by James Elsby\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Sure, there\u2019s still plenty of water to go under the bridge between now and October. <\/p>\n
But the winner of Thursday night\u2019s game might also leave a mark, at least for now, in selling itself as the best destination for success.<\/p>\n
Geelong legend Cameron Mooney has declared if Butters were choosing between the Cats and Magpies, the club he decided on would have claim to the best midfield trio in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would want Zak Butters at my football club and I would walk over coals to get him,\u201d Mooney told foxfooty.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollingwood could have him and Nick Daicos. Talk about the best one-two punch in the business, along with potentially Lachie Neale.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr you could have Butters, Max Holmes and Bailey Smith. Talk about an unbelievable trifecta. <\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing that you\u2019re the best, but you\u2019re also not the best. Particularly at Collingwood.<\/p>\n
\u201cEither way, it\u2019s almost the best trifecta of midfielders in the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cEither club would be unbelievable. It just depends if you want the city life, or the more country feel, coastal life.\u201d<\/p>\n
I know what you\u2019re thinking, Bulldogs fans; \u2018Bont and Richards say hi. Along with Darcy up forward\u2019.<\/p>\n
But the way this season is heading, Geelong and Collingwood look the most capable of doing damage in September. <\/p>\n
You can\u2019t help but wonder how watching one of those teams play finals in front of a packed house of nearly 100,000 fans at the MCG could influence Butters\u2019 call.<\/p>\n
Regardless, key data points on each club\u2019s list are being formed with every game they play.<\/p>\n
Could Butters look to team up with Max Holmes or Nick Daicos? (Photo by James Wiltshire\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
A potential season-ending syndesmosis injury might give the Port jet extra time to forensically examine the best spot for him to play out his career in pursuit of premierships.<\/p>\n
But Mooney has warned clubs against spending overs for Butters given the potential collateral damage it could cause to the rest of their list.<\/p>\n
Of course, taking haircuts financially for the greater good of the team played such a key part of the success of Mooney\u2019s Cats and the dynasty Hawks of this century.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason Geelong has been in the finals every year, is you don\u2019t necessarily have a player taking a huge amount of money,\u201d Mooney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was something we went through many, many years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the back end, you lose so many great role players and people from your footy club. That\u2019s where you fall away and fall down the ladder. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to leave some money on the table, but you\u2019re still going to get very well paid and play 25 to 30 finals.\u201d<\/p>\n
If he were deciding between the four clubs, Money would, to no huge shock, pick the Cats.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly because I know how great it is to live here. I might be bias!,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd who wouldn\u2019t want to go to Geelong when you know you\u2019re virtually locked into a finals series every year?<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, they\u2019ll give you a shot every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is the ladder lying about Geelong? | 04:22<\/p>\n
Mooney described Geelong as the \u201cbest city or country town in Australia.\u201d Butters moving closer to his hometown of Bacchus Marsh could well key factor into his decision.<\/p>\n
But the Cats great conceded he \u201cwould\u2019ve loved\u201d to play for Collingwood and all the blitz and glamour that comes with the powerhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I was so lucky I got to play for Geelong and I loved the place. But I would\u2019ve loved to have played for Collingwood. Loved it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery game is a big game. you\u2019re constantly playing in front of massive crowds and playing around 70 per cent of your games the MCG. That\u2019s the big drawcard in itself. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at guys like Tom Lynch and Dion Prestia. They left the Gold Coast and went to a big club in Richmond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what you want. If you\u2019re going to come to Melbourne, you want to come to a big club. Because every week is a final, with the <\/p>\n
atmosphere and the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mooney doesn\u2019t hold the same fear of others that Collingwood is approaching a list cliff with champion trio Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Jeremy Howe in their twilight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re such a good club. They\u2019ll be working behind the scenes to make sure that once Sidebottom, Howe and Pendlebury go, there isn\u2019t going to be this huge gap,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re banging on other doors all over the country to bring people in.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, Collingwood is going to be thereabouts for a long time. Just because of who they are and the powerhouse they are and that gives them better ability to bring in other players.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, either Geelong or Collingwood would be unbelievable. It just depends if you want the city life, or you want the more country feel, coastal life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An AFL great would \u201cwalk over coals\u201d to land Zak Butters and form the game\u2019s \u201cbest trifecta of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-833790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833790","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=833790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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