The AFL has put Port Adelaide, Geelong, Western Bulldogs and Richmond on notice regarding a potential deal for Zak Butters in the upcoming trade period.
Butters has confirmed he will be exercising his free agency rights, and is bound for Victoria, with the Cats and Bulldogs leading the race for his signature.
A recent report indicated the Power could accept free agency compensation, which stands at Pick 5, and participate in surrounding trades to get a fair value for the star on-baller, as opposed to matching the bid and forcing a trade, which is likely to yield three late first-round picks.
AFL football boss Greg Swann assured that "all the deals have got to stand up on their merit", and will be audited as per usual.
“Let's see what happens. If Zak goes and (Port) take the compensation pick and then there's a trade for another player or trades for picks, it's got to stand up,” Swann said on SEN.
“We'll just monitor that and see what it looks like.
“It's a bit like, for which we got slammed for, when we sent the letter out to say don't rest too many players (in Round 24) and everyone lost their minds. We do the same thing with trades ... we do that every year.
“Every deal gets scrutinised. We talk to clubs and record with each party what the deal was, if there's anything else behind it, if there's any side deals or anything else involved.
“We always do that, so we'll remind clubs again that's the process and just monitor it as it happens.”
Port Adelaide football lead Ben Rutten spoke on the club's considerations in regard to Butters, and what suits the Power.
“It's pretty complex," Rutten said.
"It's not just as simple as a straight swap or whatever these days, and there's still probably another month to go until that trade window really opens up. So there's a lot to play out, and we don't have clarity; we don't have certainty on what that looks like.
"The plan is to get what's in the best interest of the Port Adelaide footy club. And there's a range of things of what that could look like: players, picks, matching, compensations, all that. That's all on the table for us.
"The NGA and the father-son and the matching of bids and things being pushed out. They're all the factors that we need to consider with what the deal looks like.”
