COLLINGWOOD has made a bold financial play for Port Adelaide free agent Zak Butters, tabling a club-record deal for the superstar midfielder.
The Magpies have long been keen on Butters and met with him earlier this season, using their champion Nick Daicos in their pitch.
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They were seen to be further back in the pack of Victorian clubs chasing Butters, with Geelong, the Western Bulldogs and Richmond all desperate to land the 25-year-old as he gets set to depart Alberton Oval at the end of this season and return to Victoria.
However, AFL.com.au can reveal the Magpies have been ultra-aggressive from a financial point of view in entering the Butters chase, with their cards put on the table in recent weeks.
Butters is yet to make a decision on his preferred new home, with Port's stand-in skipper pushing to return to the field this year after recent ankle surgery.
Chasing rival clubs estimate the Pies' bid to be around the $1.8 million a year mark over at least eight years. Richmond's offer for Butters has long been viewed as the most lucrative option, with the Cats and Bulldogs also strongly pursuing the three-time best-and-fairest winner.
The Pies have managed their salary cap to be hitting the market hard this off-season, with the Magpies favourites for Brisbane champion Lachie Neale, who toured the club recently and underwent medical testing and has a three-year offer worth more than $2.5 million from Collingwood.
Their Butters move came as the Pies settled the contract future of Bobby Hill, opening up approximately $3 million over the next four years with his departure.
That had followed the Pies paying off the remaining $700,000 they were due to pay Brodie Grundy across this year and next as part of their contributions to his deal after he was traded in 2022, which cleared more space for rival moves.
Collingwood has also been keen to lock in Daicos on a 'lifetime' deal past his contract that ends in 2029, although no moves have progressed on that.
Collingwood chief executive Craig Kelly recently confirmed the Pies were chasing Butters, in remarks that drew the ire of Port coach Josh Carr.
"We'd be negligent not to be (helping list manager) Justin Leppitsch and his team, with support from both the board and ourselves, talking to anyone, and Zak’s definitely one of those players,” Kelly said.
"(Butters is) a great player, a great person, and he’s coming back to Victoria and we’d like him to consider our club."
Carr responded, saying the comments were "disrespectful"
"If that's the way that they want to lead – as I've said, it's not us, it's not who we are as a football club, it's not the way we carry ourselves," the first-year Port coach said.
"We're a football club that respects everyone in the competition and don't put ourselves above anyone. And I feel like that's not the same at every football club."
Kelly called the Power that day to clarify his comments, telling Port football boss Ben Rutten that he had misspoken and that he meant to say 'if' Butters was returning to Victoria then the Pies would be in the market.
