By Steve Barrett and Andrew Wu
Port Adelaide star Zak Butters has been cleared of broken ribs but is no certainty to be fit for his side’s cut-throat semi-final next week.
Butters underwent precautionary scans at hospital on Thursday night after being subbed out at half-time of Port’s humiliating 84-point loss to Geelong in the qualifying final.
Those scans cleared Butters of any breaks but his fitness will continue to be assessed in the coming days to determine the Port vice-captain’s availability for next week, a club spokesperson said.
Charlie Dixon of the Power looks dejected after their loss against Geelong.Credit: AFL Photos
Judged by his peers to be the most courageous player in the league for the second consecutive season, Butters was in notable discomfort after copping a hit during the first half.
“He got a whack in the ribs and obviously couldn’t go on, so that’s a pretty clear indication that he’s sore at the moment,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said.
“He’s the toughest player in the AFL, [judged] by his peers ... We’ll wait and see what happens with scans tomorrow.”
Power players will reconvene at the club on Saturday for what is shaping to be a brutal review of their heavy defeat. They face the winner of the elimination final between the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn, who have been two of the form sides in the competition in the second half of the season.
The semi-final game is likely to be played on Friday night in Adelaide, but the league was yet to confirm a time.
Hinkley admitted “everything concerned me” about his side’s drubbing, which leaves them on the cusp of back-to-back straight sets exits from September. The Power were outpointed early, rallied momentarily, and then got blown away 11.9 to 1.5 in a bloody second-half procession.
It was Port’s fourth successive finals defeat – a streak that stretches back to 2021, including three at Adelaide Oval – by a whopping average losing margin of 56.5 points.
The Power’s tall forwards were rendered completely ineffective, their midfield comprehensively outworked and their defence opened up savagely, while their skill level all over the park deteriorated wildly, particularly after half-time.
“On tonight’s result, everything ... everything concerned me,” Hinkley said. “We have been great in defence and we are [conceding] 57 or 58 points over the last six or eight weeks, and we gave up nearly 140 tonight. That’s the first point.
“We have been very good at denying opposition marks in their forward-50 – they [the Cats] took 22.
“There were so many parts. Tonight was really, really disappointing. We weren’t at the level we needed.”
Stewart likely to miss first finals
Geelong coach Chris Scott confirmed Tom Stewart was always likely to miss the Cats’ first finals assignment with a minor hamstring concern before the star backman was confirmed as a definite late out after falling ill on Thursday.
Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron (No.5) celebrates a goal with teammates.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Armed with the double-chance, Geelong made a similarly conservative call to leave out fellow defender Sam De Koning (knee).
De Koning and veteran flag-winning duo Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie will all line up for the Cats in their VFL semi-final against Southport this Saturday in Geelong.
“[Stewart] had a good couple of weeks at training and we were really optimistic that he would be right,” Scott said.
“As always, this has been our history, if you think back to big games where we’ve made conservative calls, even on really good players.
“We were still weighing that up last night, then he started to come down with the flu. By the time he woke up, he was crook enough that he wouldn’t play. Hand on heart, we were leaning towards not playing him.
“We’d made the conservative call with De Koning as well. He’ll get a game on Saturday, then we can be more sure that he’s really ready to come in and play his best.
“Our plan all along was for them [Hawkins and Guthrie] to play [VFL] this week, so we’ll push on with that.”
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