Western Bulldogs player acquisition and strategy manager Michael Regan said the club's salary cap is well prepared for the trade and free agency period amid the hunt for Port Adelaide free agent Zak Butters.
The Bulldogs have long been linked to Butters given he grew up in Darley, west of Melbourne.
The Power star isn't the only name of interest playing in South Australia, with Adelaide's Jordon Butts weighing up his future.
Bulldogs defender Buku Khamis is understood to have met with Carlton, who renewed its interest in the high-flyer. Khamis, like Butters and Butts, is out of contract.
Regan, speaking to AFL Media, provided an update on the club's position regarding the trio.
Zak Butters
Butters is being hunted by Richmond and Geelong, while a host of other Victorian clubs have flagged their interest.
"I think we're at a point in the year, in the cycle, with any free agent where a lots been said, and there's probably not a lot more to say," he said.
"It's hitting the point where its becoming a little bit disrespectful to Port Adelaide and to the 44 players on our list. We, along with every club in Victoria, have an interest in high-end talent who might want to come back here, and we will pursue anyone who can improve our list.
"That's how it works at this stage of the year. Not having direct conversations with players throughout a season. It's one where you go through their management group and you trust them to handle their players."
Port Adelaide is understood to match any bid on Butters, given his restricted free agency status, which will force a trade.
"We haven't had a direct conversation with Port Adelaide, but everything they've put out there is that they will match," Regan said.
"The variable there that becomes interesting is what has happened with the (draft) rules. What's happened with two-pick matching, what's happened with accessing higher picks, even though those clubs hold those picks, they might have difficult decisions around whether they trade those picks to get an extra compo pick if a player is bid on early in the draft.
"It's going to be interesting to see if top-five picks and high-end trades can go through anymore because it's become really restrictive and hard to do that, and more broadly, we're hearing conversation our the fixture, list sizes and mechanics to add a minion voice in the back of the room.
"We need to look at different levers. There's broad conversations around recruiters miss this player, and that player, and we do, there's no glass jaw here, we do. What we would like though is more opportunity to trial players. Whether it's a supplementary list, Sam Mitchell mentioned having unlimited list sizes but within the salary cap. Bevo has mentioned a couple ideas. It's time to start thinking about that. The game is getting bigger and we would like to give more players an opportunity on some level, but right now the mechanics is pretty restrictive."
Jordon Butts
"For us, as a football club, we've been able to bring in a fair bit of youth who have shown some really good signs at AFL level," Regan said.
"What that means for us is, as we hit that Tasmania period, we're going to be able to look at different levers. From our perspective, we can start to look at that pool of 22-27 age demographic that really helps build, going from contending to winning.
"That's something that we're going to pursue.
"As we said last year, if we're going to pursue a key defender, it needs to be a marked-up grade of what we've got. Buku has developed exceptionally well. James O'Donnell has developed really well. Jedd Busslinger, for players who have played over three games this year, he's averaging the most spoils, which has been a focus of Daniel Pratt's (Bulldogs defensive coach).
"It's a long-winded way of saying we'll pursue anyone who is a marked upgrade, but we're also going to back in our youth. Jedd's had only one full pre-season. Buku is getting better every year. James has had only a few years in the system. There's still pretty good upside in our group."
Buku Khamis
The Bulldogs have tabled a three-year offer to Khamis, which he has yet to sign.
"Buku is a extremely loved member of our community," Regan said.
"We'd be pretty confident that Buku will stay with the Western Bulldogs."
Weightman, Jones and English
Regan also remained confident small forwards Arthur Jones and Cody Weightman will be long-term Bulldogs players.
Jones has received interest from West Coast, and is out of contract, while Weightman's deal expires at the end of next year, when he enters free agency.
As for ruckman, Regan confirmed Tim English isn't going anywhere, but the club will consider making a move on an established ruck, while Caleb May develops in the reserves.
"Preceding my time, Sam Power, Dom Milesi and Ameet Bains have done a fantastic job in managing the salary cap to a point where we can execute that as well as preserve some flexibility for the future," he said.
