ZAK BUTTERS is edging closer to another slice of unwanted V/AFL history.
After being slapped with another two sanctions by the Match Review Officer across the weekend, Butters is now one more financial penalty away from becoming the first footballer to rack up more than $50,000 in fines.
The 'Butters Bill' will now reach a total of $49,125 if he opts to accept his two latest sanctions stemming from Port Adelaide's defeat on Sunday, having been offered a pair of fines totalling another $4125 by the Match Review Officer.
Butters had been the instigator in an all-in melee in the game's opening stages, having remonstrated with St Kilda's Marcus Windhager after he gave away a 50m penalty leading to a Jason Horne-Francis goal.
He was offered a $1000 fine for a first offence of instigating a melee/wrestle, and was then offered a further $3125 sanction for a third offence of engaging in a melee/wrestle in the aftermath of the incident.
It takes Butters to a total of 20 sanctions across the course of his 120-game career, having already surpassed Giants captain Toby Greene as the most fined footballer in the game's history.
Greene is also the most sanctioned player in V/AFL history, having gone past ex-Carlton and South Melbourne great David Rhys-Jones' long-standing record of 25 sanctions during the finals series last year.
He was then fined $1000 for making careless contact with an umpire, and another $6250 for kneeing Reef McInnes – his 27th and 28th sanctions – to once again go close to Butters on $44,100 worth of financial penalties.
Despite Butters' 20 sanctions, he has only been found guilty of an offence worthy of warranting a suspension once. That came in 2020, when he was given a two-game rough conduct ban for a bump on North Melbourne's Jy Simpkin.
Greene, however, has also racked up 15 matches worth of suspensions in addition to his $44,100 worth of fines. He has been guilty of eight separate offences deemed worthy of a suspension by the Match Review Officer.
The Butters bill
Appearances: 120
Sanctions: 20
Suspensions: Two matches
Fines: $49,125
Toby's track record
Appearances: 243
Sanctions: 28
Suspensions: 15 matches
Fines: $44,100
