Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says the club will explore all avenues to try to lure Port Adelaide star Zak Butters.
Butters is being hunted by the Bulldogs as well as Richmond, Geelong and Collingwood, with the Cats deemed the frontrunners in recent times.
Beveridge responded to the reports that Geelong were leading the race.
“There's rumblings. I mean, you're always working out what you can do,” Beveridge said on Fox Footy's AFL 360.
“You know, have you spent everything that you can? Not in regards to the dollar, but is there any more you can do?
“Is there another angle? (Like) With any player like Zak who you who you're really determined to bring in.
“Sometimes when you hear those rumours, they're valid. Other times, they're probably misdirected.
“We're not sure of the impact of that one, but it could be true, and we've got to continue to do what we can to see if we can bring Zak in if he makes that decision (to leave Port).”
The Pies and the Tigers have both tabled monster deals to land Butters.
Adelaide key defender Jordon Butts is another name the Bulldogs are interested in, while Gold Coast midfielder Matt Rowell will be on the club's agenda for the next 18 months.
“We've been able to hold it together. In the last 10 to 12 years, we've played in one (grand final), one won (premiership),” he said.
“We feel like we've strategically positioned ourselves with Tassie coming in to re-emerge, it's a really important off-season for us.
“If we can bring in three or four players from other clubs who are pretty experienced, just to bolster and fortify our stocks, we'll be in a really good position.”
As for captain Marcus Bontempelli, the Bulldogs will look to manage him once again with an Achilles issue, although Beveridge alluded to how difficult the prospect of resting the midfielder will be.
"He'll want to play," Beveridge said.
"When we talked about the last two rounds, we talked about whether maybe two is better than just the one to make sure that he's really cherry ripe for the wildcard game,
"But he'll want to play this one, I'm fairly sure, so we'll be talking him out of doing it which will be difficult."
