Butters Masterclass Reminds Us Why Everyone Wants Him

Look, I’ll be honest with you — I spend most of my weekends either celebrating a Collingwood win or stewing over one we should of had. But every now and then, a performance comes along that makes even a rusted-on Pies tragic put the scarf down for a minute and just… watch. Zak Butters in Showdown 60 was one of those performances.

A Last Showdown to Remember

The word around the traps — and it’s been loud enough to rattle the tin roof at Adelaide Oval — is that Showdown 60 was almost certainly Butters’ last. The Power midfielder is contracted, sure, but the trade whispers have been louder than a Collingwood cheer squad after a flag, and everyone in footy knows it.

So how do you handle that kind of pressure? How do you front up to a crosstown derby, knowing the whole competition is watching and half of them are hoping you have a quiet one so their recruiters can slide the knife in?

You go out there and remind every single person in the building exactly why they want you. That’s how.

What He Actually Did Out There

Butters didn’t just play well. He played like a man who had something to prove — and that’s saying something because his baseline is already ridiculous. He was all over the contest from the opening bounce, that motor of his running at about nine thousand RPM while the Crows were still trying to work out their zonal press.

Teh thing about Butters that separates him from most midfielders in this competition is the unpredictability. You can’t set a defensive structure for a bloke who doesn’t know where he’s going next. He zigged when defenders thought he’d zag, found pockets of space that shouldn’t have existed, and used the ball with a precision that would make Collingwood’s coaching staff wince just a little at what we’re missing in teh midfield engine room.

He broke tackles like he was annoyed by them. He hit contests at angles that made Adelaide look like they were playing against the wind both ways. He was, to put it plainly, unplayable.

The X-Factor That Makes Recruiters Drool

Now here’s the thing — and this is where I get a bit more analytical and a bit less emotionally compromised Pies fan. What makes Butters special isn’t just the physical attributes, though they’re elite. It’s the football IQ.

\p>He reads stoppages better than almost anyone in the competition right now. He knows when to go hard at the ball and when to drift, when to take on a man and when to hit the lead. These are things you can’t really coach. You’re either born with that football brain or you’re not, and Butters has got it in spades.

Every club that’s been linked to him — and the list is long enough to fill a match program — would be eyeing exactly that. Not just a contested beast who can win the ball. A genuinely complete midfielder who can win the ball and make good decisions once he’s got it. In 2024 AFL football, that combination is rarer than a fair free kick against the Pies.

The Showdown Stage Suits Him

There’s something about the Showdown that brings out the best in certain players. Adelaide Oval is a special venue — dramatic, loud, that strange kind of split-crowd energy that crackles differently to most grounds. Some players shrink in that atmosphere. Butters doesn’t just handle it. He feeds off it.

Watch him pre-game. Watch the eyes. There’s a hyperactive, barely-contained energy about him that suggests he actually wants the big moments. That face — some pundits have called it fierce, others have said he just looks like he’s absolutely loving every second — tells you everything about his competitive make-up.

Port Adelaide fans would’ve been proud to the point of heartbreak watching this one, because it highlighted just what they might be losing. Carn the Pies, yes, but I’m not going to pretend I didn’t respect every second of what this bloke served up.

What Does This Mean for the Trade Period?

Here’s where it gets interesting. A performance like this doesn’t make Butters cheaper. It makes him more expensive. Every club watching Showdown 60 on Friday night would’ve had their list managers on the phone by the final siren, recalculating what they’re willing to give up.

And Port Adelaide, to their credit, are no mugs. They know exactly what they’ve got. Ken Hinkley — whatever you think of him — has always been able to get performances out of this bloke, and the Power as a club are not going to give him away for a song. If he walks, it’ll cost someone dearly, and it should.

The question for any potential destination isn’t whether Butters is worth it. He clearly is. The question is whether they can build around him the right way. Because a midfielder this good needs quality around him — he needs runners who complement his style, forwards who can convert the chances he creates, a structure that gives him licence to roam.

At Collingwood? I’ll say it. We could definately use him. But I’m a realist as much as I am a dreamer in a black and white scarf.

The Bigger Picture for the Competition

Butters at 24 — still young, still developing in key areas, already one of the best midfielders in the competition. That’s a frightening thought for whoever’s going to line up against him for the next decade.

In a competition where genuine elite midfielders are the most precious commodity on the board, you simply don’t let them walk unless you absolutely have to. Port Adelaide know it. The rest of the competition knows it. And after Showdown 60, Butters himself has made absolutely certain that everyone in footy is paying attention.

This wasn’t just a good game in a heated local derby. This was a statement. A full-volume, no-ambiguity, put-that-in-your-recruiting-database statement from a player who has been building to this moment his entire career.

The Bottom Line

Zak Butters put on one of the great individual Showdown performances on Friday night, and the timing of it — potentially his last crack at it in Port Adelaide colours — only adds to the weight of what he delivered.

He’s fast, smart, competitive, and he plays every game like someone told him he only gets one shot at it. That kind of player doesn’t come along often, and whoever ends up with him — whether it’s the Power keeping him or a rival club landing the deal of the decade — is going to be very, very happy with what they’ve got.

Now, can we just win a final first? Carn the Pies.