{"id":894344,"date":"2026-09-16T17:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T17:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/894344\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T17:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T17:54:21","slug":"cant-do-that-greg-swann-responds-to-butters-free-agency-theory-and-what-wont-be-allowed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/894344\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Can\u2019t do that\u2019: Greg Swann responds to Butters free agency theory… and what won\u2019t be allowed"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL football boss Greg Swann has warned that any trade accompanying Zak Butters\u2019 restricted free agency move must stand on its own merits, signalling the league will not allow clubs to manipulate compensation bands.<\/p>\n

The Power superstar Butters last Saturday nominated the Western Bulldogs as his preferred destination<\/a> ahead of 2027, however as a restricted free agent, Port can match any offer and force a trade, or decline to match and receive first-band free-agency compensation \u2014 currently pick No.5.<\/p>\n

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Industry speculation in recent days has narrowed in on the potential of both clubs seeking a secondary trade if Port Adelaide accepted pick No.5, which has seen Port utility Todd Marshall also linked to the Kennel in exchange for two first-round selections.<\/a><\/p>\n

The league\u2019s Executive General Manager, however, has cautioned the clubs from working outside the realms of an annual memo sent to all 18 clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt (a memo) goes out every year … here\u2019s the rules, follow the rules and then everyone\u2019s okay,\u201d Swann told Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d have to look at it, but on the surface, it would have to stand on its own feet. But, there\u2019s other permutations to it … if the debate is around they (Port Adelaide) pay money as well, you can\u2019t do that if there\u2019s a compensation pick paid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s going to the Bulldogs, and you need to pay X amount of money to get to the band to get first-round compensation. Then, at the next level you get a player back, where the club has got the compensation pays (their) money, you\u2019re manipulating the band.<\/p>\n

Does Butters deal ‘pass the pub test?’ | 01:04<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do that. In this instance, there\u2019s been debate about us getting out of the way, but because there\u2019s a compensation pick involved (we will).<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are talking about two first-round picks (for Marshall). Again, we haven\u2019t seen it and it\u2019s only speculation. But, speaking to people today that Marshall hasn\u2019t even said he\u2019s going to go at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this instance, let\u2019s just see what happens. There might be other things involved, there might be other picks and players involved. We are speculating a little bit, but in the main it\u2019s got to be pretty close \u2014 or some semblance of close.\u201d<\/p>\n

AFL 360 host and Melbourne great Garry Lyon argued Marshall\u2019s recent on-field output doesn\u2019t justify that price on face value.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the 274th-ranked player in 2023, 355th in 2024 and 346th in 2026. When he did qualify in the last five years, he\u2019s a bottom 15-ranked in the competition. You sign off on two first-round picks there, that ain\u2019t cutting it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After missing the entire 2025 season, Marshall played 15 games this season mostly as a defender.<\/p>\n

Swann went on to explain that Gold Coast\u2019s free agency compensation for Ben King\u2019s departure would be diluted in the instance Scott Pendlebury arrived at the Suns as a free agent, which will subsequently see them and Collingwood trade for the 38-year-old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL football boss Greg Swann has warned that any trade accompanying Zak Butters\u2019 restricted free agency move must…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-894344","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\/894344","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=894344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}