ZAK Butters will start his fifth AFL season next year with glittering accolades from his novice years at Port Adelaide - and the challenge to become the new heart beat of a new Port Adelaide.
Butters, 21, is part of the talented group of players aged 20 to 24 who need to advance their resumes - and Port Adelaide's on-field prospects - as the next generation of premiership seekers at Alberton.
"I am not too far off it," said Butters on Wednesday when his CV gained another individual gong - selection in the 40 contenders for the AFL Players' Association 22under22.
"But there is still a lot of room for improvement - and that is what excites me. I think I can take that next step in the next few years and I am looking forward to working with (former captains) Ollie Wines and Travis Boak who have done just that. I have some good guys here to help me."
Butters and midfield colleague Connor Rozee on Wednesday were named in the 40-man preliminary squad for the AFL Players' Association "22under22" team. For the second time in three years, Butters could be selected in the AFLPA premier under-22 line-up.
Vote for Zak and Connor: Have your say and vote our young guns into the final 22under22team
"It is definitely an honour - with Connor - to be among the league's great young players," Butters said. "(But) I am looking forward to two more wins for the year (with the remaining games against Essendon on Sunday and the Showdown on Saturday week).
"I am sure I will look back (on the honour) in a few years. I don't make so much (of individual accolades). I am sure one day, when I am older and past the game, that I will look back and celebrate with the people who helped me get there, family and others. At the moment, I am looking at what is next - and that is trying to win games. And, ultimately, in the next few years, premierships."
Butters joined Port Adelaide from the 2018 AFL national draft pool as one of the club’s three top-20 recruits, along with Rozee and Xavier Duursma.
The challenge to progress from highly fancied tyro to one of the AFL's elite - and consistent - players was put to Rozee this week when forwards coach Nathan Bassett noted: "He has had a really strong season and he will have his own challenges moving forward to back up this season. It is nice to do it once, but this game keeps asking you to do it week in, week out. He has another pre-season in front of him so that he can move his game to another level which he is capable of."
The same challenge faces the 66-game Butters.
"I hold high expectations of myself," Butters said. "I am sure those around me do as well. I am well aware of that. I should be putting myself in the mix of being one of the best players at the club. That is what I try to live up to every week.
"I have a number of things (to live up to). I am a young player, still 21. Experience, learning from guys around me, putting more time in my body ... and another big off-season to come back bigger and better ...
"It is nothing that weighs me down too much. From a young age, I had high expectations of myself whether it was home (in country Victoria) at junior level or moving up through the ranks. I always wanted to be one of the better players - it excites me more than anything."
Butters' - and Rozee's - development as a midfielder has been derailed at times by Port Adelaide's needs to cover gaps in attack.
"I've played forward for a bit, but more recently in the midfield - and that will come with another pre-season in the midfield," Butters said. "We are developing more high forwards for the team, so hopefully in the next few years I will see more midfield time."
Port Adelaide has fallen from a top-four team in the last two seasons to 12th so far this year - with an 8-12 win-loss record - to leave many questions on why there has been the tumble on the AFL ladder and how the revival can unfold at Alberton,
"It is a strange feeling from the past two years when we were at the top of the ladder and in the hunt at the pointy end of the season," Butters said. "We still have two games to go - and a lot of footy to be played, a lot of learning to be taken across two weeks of training and footy. I want to get the most out of it. I will miss playing footy (during the spring and summer), so I want to get the most out of these two games."
Port Adelaide's rematch with Essendon - after the win at Adelaide Oval 10 weeks ago - demands a significant change to how the team played and competed, particularly at contests, against top-eight contender Richmond on Saturday night.
"We were really competitive in the previous month and showed great fight, but at the weekend we took a step back - and that was disappointing," Butters said.
"For us, (the fall is explained) by little things that have slipped off - not being consistent with our game has hurt us; and we have lacked some class up forward at times with Orazio Fantasia not being fit to play and missing guys who had helped us in previous years.
"It is the little things that we have let slip in games. It shows when we have lost seven or eight games by (14 points) or less. That hurts where previously in the past two years we have won those games. It is a few little things. If we get more players fit, a good system and a good start (after a 0-5 opening this year) we will be fine again.
"We have a good core of players at the top. Us younger boys - me and Connor, and Mitch (Georgiades) - need to take that next step in our games. We need to see more younger guys step up. Another pre-season - and narrowing our identity as a team - will really help us next year.
"Ken Hinkley and his coaches are disappointed. And I know the boys took it pretty personally. So, it was good to have energy at training today and we want to take that to the weekend to get back on the winners' list.
"Ken was pretty fired up today. He was motivating the boys - he made sure we did not get down in the dumps by not having finals before us. We have a good coaching group and a good playing group that is well connected, so I doubt that we will be without energy or character."
Port Adelaide will be challenged by Essendon's speed and the prospect of a fast game at the indoor arena in west Melbourne in Sunday's twilight game.
"We know what Essendon will bring - speed, energy, high skill and they want to get the ball moving at the back," Butters said. "It starts with our contest work being strong. It comes down to being physical and locking the ball in our forward 50 and keeping it in there - and defending hard and sharp.
"We were not great at contest last week, so it is on us to bring that this week. There will be a bit of feeling when we look to bring some heat (at the contest) this week."
Butters' time at Port Adelaide is strongly linked to senior coach Ken Hinkley.
"I want Ken leading us; he has done a heap of work in my four years at the club," Butters said. "Ken has helped me so much on-field and off-field. I know I definitely want him as my coach next year. I know he gets the best out of me. And I hope I get the best out of him as well.
"Ken is a carefree, stress-free guy, but I dare say he feels the pressure some time. He has done so much for the footy club. He has taken us to some really good positions and definitely has made us a stronger football club, on and off the field with what he has brought to the club.
"We all have a completely different feel to what we have known in the past two years. But our training sessions still have been good. Everyone is still showing up and wanting to get better - that is the most-important thing. It would be concerning if we weren't. From what I have seen and from what I feel among the coaches and the players, that wanting to get better is still happening. That is the number one thing."
