All the news ahead of Port Adelaide’s round 14 home blockbuster against Geelong
Zak Butters’ unbelievable run of form has him firmly in contention for the Brownlow. But has he outperformed a Port teammate who’s already taken home footy’s highest honour?
Port Adelaide star Zak Butters is the top-rated footballer in the league.
That is according to a new Champion Data metric that measures every AFL player over 100 minutes based on expectations for their positional splits.
Butters, who has stormed into the outright lead of coaches association voting and sits second in Brownlow Medal favouritism, is outperforming his expected player rating points by 6.3, given what is predicted of someone with 72 per cent time in the midfield, 28 per cent as a forward.
Different to Champion Data ranking points, AFL player ratings put a large emphasis on where they win the ball and what they do with it.
The new expectation per 100 minutes measure helps to compare the best players in the competition.
Right now, Butters averages 17.5 rating points per 100 minutes, well clear of what Champion Data expects from him based on his role (11.2).
St Kilda ball magnet Jack Sinclair (+5.8 differential) and Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli (+5.6) round out the top three.
Numbers tell part of the story, but so too does the eye test.
And Port Adelaide premiership captain Warren Tredrea believes Butters is having a season that compares very favourably to teammate Ollie Wines’s 2021 Brownlow Medal campaign.
“He’s having a phenomenal year,” Tredrea said on FIVEaa this week.
“This isn’t a disrespect on Ollie … but Butters’ year so far has been more dominant, more efficient and more of a matchwinner than Ollie was when he won the Brownlow.”
Based on overall AFL player ratings, Wines ranked 15th in the competition and ninth among midfielders in 2021 – a season the Power reached the preliminary final.
Butters is third in the league this year, behind Melbourne gun Clayton Oliver and Bontempelli.
Their influence on games has been quite different.
Midfield bull Wines averaged 32.4 disposals, 14.8 contested possessions, 5.9 clearances, 5.2 inside 50s, one score assist and 0.6 goals two seasons ago.
Comparatively, creative spark plug Butters is recording fewer touches (27.5), contested possessions (11.1), clearances (4.3), the same number of inside 50s (5.2), and more score assists (1.7) and goals (0.6) while helping the Power sit equal-first on the ladder.
The only other player to win the league’s highest individual honour for an SA club, former Adelaide captain Mark Ricciuto, averaged 23.5 disposals, 10.2 contested possessions, 4.4 clearances, 4.5 inside 50s and one goal per game during a brilliant 2003.
Power coach Ken Hinkley would not be drawn on whether Butters was compiling a Brownlow standard campaign.
“They’re questions that I really can’t answer,” Hinkley said.
“I can speculate and say he’s had a really strong season thus far, but there’s still another 10 games to go, a lot to play out.”
Hinkley said Butters’ biggest growth this year had been his consistency.
“Zak’s always had some great traits that a lot of people love to watch and see, and we’ve always been able to see them, but they’ve been remarkably consistent for the last 10 weeks,” he said.
Butters, who Port drafted at pick 12 in 2018, missed three, two, 12 and two matches over his first four seasons.
The 181cm, 77kg Victorian has featured in all 13 games this year.
He has been particularly instrumental since becoming a full-time midfielder in round 4, the start of the Power’s 10-game winning streak.
Butters has attended 55 per cent of centre bounces in 2023, up from 38 per cent last season.
Champion Data ranks him elite among midfielders this year for AFL player ratings points, marks and score assists.
He has polled coaches votes in each of Port’s past 10 matches, dating back to that midfield switch against Sydney, and has received the maximum of 10 five times this campaign.
Butters is now 10 votes clear of second-placed Collingwood young gun Nick Daicos.
The on-baller told The Advertiser he did not look into personal accolades, he just wanted to keep notching victories.
“If we keep doing the work together, whatever happens individually will happen,” Butters said.
“I’m just really enjoying playing with my mates and winning games of footy.”
Butters said the Power’s new midfield coach, 2004 premiership hero Josh Carr, had challenged him, Connor Rozee and Jason Horne-Francis to “take the game on and really use our weapons”.
“We always go after it at training and that probably sets the tone for the weekend,” he said.
Butters seemed to be having plenty of fun on the field.
He said he always tried to give lots of energy, excitement and encouragement to his teammates to “make them feel like they can do just about anything out there”.
“I just want to bring positivity and then set the tone with my actions, as well as be a bit better in defence and help the team out in that area a bit more,” he said.
“The rest of it looks after itself.”
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