Port Adelaide young gun Zak Butters is set on locking down a spot in the Power’s forward line in his second AFL season
Zak Butters formed part of Port Adelaide’s exciting crop of youngsters to burst onto the AFL scene in 2019. Now in his second season, the rising star is set on securing a forward line spot for the Power.
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Zak Butters is determined to build on his encouraging debut season and become a key cog in Port Adelaide’s forward line this year.
Butters, 19, is coming off playing 19 games in his first AFL campaign, averaging 14.1 disposals and kicking 12 goals in a high half-forward role.
The former Western Jets junior said he “showed people what he could do” early before falling away towards the back half of the season.
Butters, who had off-season shoulder surgery, said Sam Gray’s departure to Sydney gave him the chance to “make that small forward spot mine”.
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“We played the majority of the season together in the same team, but it probably gives me an opportunity to step up and take a bit of leadership that he helped me and Connor with in our first year,” Butters told The Advertiser.
“I want to step up and take charge and help any of the new guys coming into the team playing half-forward.
“Last year I think I started off pretty well, I was a bit inconsistent; but unless you’re Sam Walsh – and he’s an unbelievable player – and when you’re in that high half-forward, you’re not going to get your 20, 25 touches every week.
“Some weeks you’ve got to work exactly the same as you did before, but you’re not going to get used – that’s the way it is in footy.
“I probably accepted that better in the second half of the year.
“I had a pretty good exit meeting at the end of the year and was determined to come back in a good way, get my shoulder right and I’m now moving the best I have in a couple of years and the body’s feeling good.”
Butters believed Glenelg Tobin Cox was “one to watch” to take Gray’s position, while Kane Farrell had been training on a wing and was a chance to line up there, rather than in attack.
After arriving via the 2018 national draft with Connor Rozee (pick No. 5) and Xavier Duursma (18), Butters, who was selection 12 that year, said he was feeling more prepared for what was ahead.
“You don’t have to think about as much,” he said.
“(During the first pre-season) you’re thinking about relationships with your teammates and trying to do the right thing, get on the good side of all them and be respected.
“This year you know where you sit and on the track, knowing all the setups and all the structures and what my role is, and what I need to do to get myself ready for training … it’s a bit easier in that sense.
“It’s good to just play forward and my head isn’t spinning 100 miles an hour thinking ‘am I standing in the right spot?’
“It’s good to be a bit more relaxed, not on the field, but knowing what you need to do.”
Originally published as Port Adelaide young gun Zak Butters is set on locking down a spot in the Power’s forward line in his second AFL season