Champion Data: How Port Adelaide and Zak Butters took their game to another level

That kind of win in the spotlight builds credibility that you’re the real deal.

The same goes for individual players.

As much as Port’s seventh win on the trot earned rave reviews, the coming out party of Zak Butters as a bona fide star of the game may have overshadowed it.

His 41 disposal and two goal masterclass had the football world talking, but as Champion Data has found, Butters’ staggering rise is driving Port Adelaide’s turnaround even more than first thought.

Biding his time

Butters has been recognised as a talent from the moment he kicked two consecutive goals at the MCG on debut but, weighing just 70 kilograms when drafted, there was a question on his ability to physically cope in a midfield world full of big bodies.

In his fifth season, Port Adelaide have only just pulled the trigger on Butters’ graduation from creative half forward to full-time midfielder.

Last season Butters was the most productive Power player when in the midfield, achieving an average of 14.6 rating points per 100 minutes spent there.

But perhaps owing to that physical question mark, Butters ranked only fifth at Port for midfield minutes. He played less than half of the midfield minutes of teammate Ollie Wines, who happens to weigh 20 kilograms more.

Changing of the guard

That midfield mix going into 2023 was changing though.

Butters will always be grouped with his draft class teammate Connor Rozee, and Rozee’s graduation to the midfield in 2022 resulted in a best and fairest and anointed leader for this season.

Across the first three games of 2023, Rozee went from fourth most midfield minutes in 2022 to first, and his game elevated accordingly.

The injection of Jason Horne-Francis into the team provided another new element as he immediately played the second most minutes in the middle.

But elsewhere there were issues. Wines was having an ordinary start to the season, mostly on account of his disposal, and despite the changes Butters still sat back at fifth spot in the rotation.

Once again he was playing less than half the midfield minutes of the club leader, and his output per 100 minutes was way down on last year’s figures.

The Power had won impressively against Brisbane in round one, but had followed with disappointing losses to Collingwood and Adelaide.

The jungle drums were beating loudly that this was the end for Ken Hinkley.

The midfield mix had changed but it wasn’t working … yet.

Zak’s Zing

Round four against Sydney was the great steal for Port that got their season back on track, but it may also be remembered as the night Butters turned the team on its head.

After spending just 17 per cent of his time in the middle the week before, he played 89 per cent midfield, gathered the most disposals of any Power player and earned himself five coaches votes.

The effect since has been remarkable.

Port has not lost a game and Butters has garnered coaches votes in every game, including four perfect ten-vote games.

When considering the entire season, Port have not lost a game when Butters has played the majority of his time as a midfielder.

The midfield mix has shifted again. Instead of languishing in fifth spot, Butters is now just behind Rozee in midfield minutes since round four.

Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis now own the middle for Port, with Wines shifting back in the rotation to play the supporting grunt role (with much improved rating results). This is a complete change from the 2022 mix, where Wines, Willem Drew and Travis Boak were the top three midfield occupiers.

Butters brilliance

Butters’ coronation as midfield royalty last week, when pitted against established princes Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca, is no flash in the pan.

He has the most productive rating per 100 midfield minutes in the AFL this year, even besting Marcus Bontempelli: 19.5 to 19.

But that‘s only part of the story.

Butters was averaging just 8.4 rating points from round one to three. Since the midfield move in round four, he is averaging an astronomical 22.1.

He is far and away the hottest player in the league.

A bunch of things have helped the Power resurrection but by far the biggest jigsaw piece has been the unshackling of Butters.

Port are now a premiership contender, but Bont and Nick, we have a new Brownlow contender too.