Inside the Dogs’ Butters pursuit as mega deal came together

Western Bulldogs list manager Michael Regan has revealed the club feared it had fallen behind in the race for Zak Butters before an extraordinary club-wide effort helped secure the superstar midfielder's signature.

Butters officially joined the Bulldogs from Port Adelaide on Friday on a nine-year deal, ending one of the most fiercely contested recruiting battles in recent memory.

But according to Regan, the outcome was far from the certainty many had assumed.

“Zak’s obviously someone that we’re really excited about. It’s great to have been able to bring in someone of that quality and someone who means so much to our footy club and our area,” Regan said on AFL Trade Radio’s Trade Mornings.

Regan revealed the Bulldogs had endured several nervous moments throughout the pursuit.

“It genuinely did wax and wane,” he said.

“We started off confident, and potentially too confident at times. I think there’s been a bit of a narrative out there that it was always going to happen; that’s certainly not the case.

“We caught wind that we had fallen down the pecking order a little bit and then had to get to work on what those reasons were and how we could work to reassure everyone involved that this was the place for Zak.

“That was definitely real on our end. Whether we got bluffed into that, I’m not too sure, but we got to work, and through the hard work of a number of people around the football club, from Kylie Watson-Wheeler down, we were able to get ourselves back in front of Zak and have a chat.”

Butters himself said he had no preconceived ideas about which club he wanted to join, with Geelong very much in the hunt at one stage.

But he ended up making a judgment call after some savvy advice from his former Power coach and mentor Ken Hinkley.

“I did never commit to going there. At different points I had different preferences,” Butters said on AFL Trade Radio’s Trade Exchange.

“Throughout the year I went through different emotions, different feelings. At certain points you see yourself somewhere else and somewhere else.

“Vossy (Michael Voss) probably knows how close I am with Kenny, and he (Hinkley) knows me better than most people. He knows what means a lot to me, my values and my character. I had plenty of good chats with him throughout the year.

“He said to me, ‘When you land on one and you know you’ll wake up and it’s just meant to be’. I feel like when I had that moment I just wanted to get it done with. It was the Doggies, and once I feel like I had that I knew what I wanted to do and get it done and make it official.

“I think up until then, no one was committed to.”

The pursuit from the Dogs became an all-hands-on-deck, club-wide operation, with Regan acknowledging he had never experienced such a united effort to recruit a single player.

“It’s a representation of how this footy club works and why it’s a great place to be,” Regan said.

“Whether that’s Sam Power, Ameet Bains… this is a united footy club and one that is pushing towards success.”

A late visit to Butters' farm proved particularly important in getting the Bulldogs back into contention.

“It was late in the piece. We headed up there (to meet him), and Zak was good enough to open his doors.

“We just sat down and had a frank conversation. We’d done all the bells and whistles. In the end, honesty is the best policy, and we just sat down and had a really frank, open and honest chat about where the club was at, what it meant to us as a football club and the supporter base, and what it would mean to everyone involved if Zak was to choose us.”

Once Butters had made his decision, the Bulldogs still faced the challenge of securing his arrival through a complex series of negotiations.

A five-club mega deal was completed on Friday, with Port Adelaide subsequently electing not to match the Bulldogs' free agency offer for Butters and accepting Pick 5 as compensation.

Regan said clubs had been forced to become increasingly creative in navigating the changing player movement landscape.

“It’s an evolving space,” he said.

“A lot of that evolution has been down to the constraints on the market through the rule changes and Tassie… Our job is to look at those constraints through what has been introduced and then establish what opportunities and paths there are to attack and evolve your own strategy.”

And, if there was any doubt about how quickly Butters had embraced his new club, Regan shared a small insight from Friday afternoon as the final paperwork was being processed.

When he asked about his plans for the evening, Butters told Regan he intended to settle in and watch the Bulldogs' AFLW clash with Essendon.

Butters' arrival at Whitten Oval is the signature moment of a busy off-season for the Western Bulldogs, who have also welcomed key defender Jordon Butts as a free agent, as well as midfielder Finn Maginness and developing ruckman Hudson O'Keeffe via the mega-deal.