{"id":876916,"date":"2026-09-02T02:40:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/876916\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T02:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:40:24","slug":"afl-news-2026-zak-butters-trade-rumours-western-bulldogs-coach-luke-beveridge-speaks-on-location-fears-geelong-in-the-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/876916\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL News 2026: Zak Butters trade rumours, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge speaks on location fears, Geelong in the race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Bulldogs<\/a> coach Luke Beveridge<\/a> admits he remains \u201cnone the wiser\u201d regarding Zak Butters<\/a>\u2032 thoughts on joining the club at Whitten Oval, with rival Geelong<\/a> emerging as a strong contender in the blockbuster trade race.<\/p>\n

In the fierce battle to lure the star midfielder away from Port Adelaide<\/a>, the Bulldogs have long been considered the frontrunners. The club is buoyed by ample salary cap space and Butters\u2019 childhood allegiance to the Dogs. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Luke Beveridge speaks on the trade rumours on Footy Classified. \u00a0Footy Classified<\/p>\n

However, Butters\u2019 upbringing in regional Victoria presents a significant geographical advantage for the Cats, admits Beveridge. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m none the wiser,\u201d Beveridge said as a guest panellist on Nine\u2019s Footy Classified when asked about the rumours. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve probably done my bit over the journey with Zak, and I\u2019m sure that the Cats\u2019 representatives have too. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut now I think behind the scenes, the list management teams are working feverishly to convince Port Adelaide, and still to convince Zak that we\u2019re the right club for him. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut as far as any indication as to who he might choose, I have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butters is set to receive one of the game\u2019s most lucrative contracts<\/a>, regardless of whether he chooses Geelong or the Bulldogs. <\/p>\n

While Geelong has been the frontrunner performance-wise in recent weeks, Beveridge hopes the Bulldogs remain firmly in the hunt despite his lingering fears.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to go down a path with your thinking other than – if you want to really start to be concerned – is the geography. I mean, Darley, his home town and how relative it is to metropolitan Melbourne versus Geelong or the Bellarine Peninsula, or whatever\u2019s being sold to him down there,\u201d Beveridge explained further. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just hoping that he\u2019d want to come and be immersed in the western suburbs and live in Williamstown or somewhere like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the geography is the one for me that I\u2019ve been concerned about; it still sticks in my head. I\u2019m hoping he can get through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complicating matters for the Bulldogs at the trade table, Nine\u2019s Cal Twomey suggested a high draft pick might be the key to satisfying Port Adelaide – draft capital the Bulldogs currently lack.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Beveridge hopes that Butters will still choose the Western Bulldogs. \u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m growing more and more of the view that pick No.5, the free agency compensation pick, will become part of the overall transaction and package that will end up going to Port Adelaide,\u201d Twomey told the panel.<\/p>\n

But Beveridge hopes the club\u2019s stability and Butters\u2019 existing relationships will be enough to tip the scales in his favour.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as far as the potential of which club might be successful in the future, I\u2019m sure Zak\u2019s seeing some really good signs from us. It\u2019s hard to have a crystal ball, but he knows that we\u2019re a club that is solid, we\u2019ve got great people and he\u2019s met a lot of them,\u201d Beveridge said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe played with a few of them from both teams in the state game, so he\u2019s had a connection already.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cats and Bulldogs both play elimination finals this week, against Carlton on Friday and Adelaide on Saturday respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge admits he remains \u201cnone the wiser\u201d regarding Zak Butters\u2032 thoughts on joining the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-876916","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\/876916","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=876916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}