Zak Butters, the man with the most sought-after signature in the AFL, remains steadfast in not deciding his future until season’s end.
As multi-million dollar offers mount from suitors in his native Victoria, the Port Adelaide dynamo remains solid.
“Nothing has really changed my mind,” Butters told reporters on Monday.
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“I feel like, yeah, the end of season will probably be when I make my decision.
“And I think I’ll be sticking to that all year.
“I’m really enjoying my footy right now, seeing these young kids come through. And I feel like we’ve got a few boys still to come back in with Connor (Rozee) and a few boys still missing, so I think the future is pretty bright.”
Butters is being chased by clubs including Western Bulldogs, Hawthorn, Collingwood, Geelong, Essendon and Richmond.
The triple club champion falls off-contract at Port at season’s end and becomes a restricted free agent, with the South Australian club pledging to match any offer.
Butters spent last week in an unwanted spotlight amid a controversial tribunal case after being found to have abused umpire Nick Foot.
But Butters was cleared when the appeals board ruled he was denied natural justice as tribunal member Jason Johnson was driving at stages of the hearing.
“I keep it pretty clear to myself … keep the off-field stuff to the off-field and worry about my performance foremost and how I control that,” Butters said.
“That’s what I’m paid to do.
“A lot of my time and energy goes into training, getting better as a player, making my teammates better, and being a good leader as well so I’d like to say I fill my cup up with most of that stuff.”
Asked how difficult the case was, Butters replied: “I wouldn’t say it was ideal.
“But difficult or not, I feel like there’s quite a lot of worse things going on in the world.
“Obviously, you’d rather these things not happen, and the club has been super in their support and all the people around the place, I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”
Butters has been acting captain since Rozee suffered a serious hamstring injury in round three which has him still three months from returning.
The captaincy sits comfortably, with the dynamic midfielder averaging a career-high 31 disposals a game.
“When I took it over, and (coach) Josh (Carr) gave me the responsibility, he just challenged me to use it and try to get better as well and not shy away from things,” Butters said.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have some really good leaders over my time at the club in Tom Jonas and Travis Boak. Even in the team now, Ollie Wines and Darcy Byrne-Jones have been here since I started my footy and they’re still helping me now.
“I’ve been pretty lucky to have some really good support.”
