Hird responds as \u2018box seat\u2019 favourite to land Bombers job revealed<\/a><\/p>\nThe irrepressible ball-winner didn\u2019t get the Port send-off he wanted, suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Round 18, but his impact as stand-in skipper this year won\u2019t soon be forgotten at headquarters. <\/p>\n
The only remaining question he has to answer is where he wants to play his footy. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s understood the 25-year-old hasn\u2019t yet indicated which club he\u2019d like to be traded to, with Geelong thought to be the frontrunner, while the Western Bulldogs and Richmond still hold out hope. <\/p>\n
Collingwood had reportedly tabled a club-record $14 million, eight-year offer to Butters but he does not want to join them.<\/p>\n
Richmond has the biggest financial offer (a reported $18 million over eight years and heavily front-loaded) while the Bulldogs were his childhood club and Geelong is the closest to a premiership. The latter two sides are also closest to Darley, west of Melbourne, where Butters grew up and still spends plenty of time.<\/p>\n
Asked what his next steps would be, Butters said: \u201cThere\u2019s a bit to play through in the next little bit with my manager and family and trying to decide on what\u2019s next for me. I\u2019ll look to get that sorted in the next little bit. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe club has been great throughout everything. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll work together, and we\u2019ll get something done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zak Butters has confirmed his decision to leave Port Adelaide this year. (Photo by Josh Chadwick\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Darley product is a restricted free agent, with the Power set to match any contending rival offer to force a trade. <\/p>\n
Richmond has the best tradeable assets to satisfy the Power, but that won\u2019t matter if he desires a move to Kardinia Park. <\/p>\n
Butters said he would take \u201cso many special memories\u201d with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy teammates along the journey have all been awesome, some great role models who\u2019ve really paved the way and helped me,\u201d he said. \u201cPlenty of great coaches that have gotten me to where I am today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll forever be in debt to the footy club for drafting a skinny kid from Darley that had no shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll always be a Port Adelaide person. I\u2019ll always value this club and what it\u2019s done for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe supporters have been everything. They\u2019ve always got around me from day one of being drafted; even throughout this year, they\u2019ve been awesome and shown nothing but love and support. I feel I\u2019ve always tried to repay them in the right way and play football the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdelaide Oval is a special place. There\u2019s nothing better than Showdowns. That\u2019s something I\u2019ll dearly miss.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s trade period is set to start on Monday, October 5 and run through Wednesday, October 14. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zak Butters is leaving Port Adelaide, but he won\u2019t be joining Collingwood. The superstar midfielder told the Power…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-866448","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\/866448","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=866448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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