Trade idea nixed in Butters roadblock; Bombers’ shock $3.5m play for Hawk — Whispers

There’s been a fresh twist in the AFL’s reminder to clubs about ‘top-up’ deals, and it’s left some accusing the league’s powerbrokers of “making rules on the run”.

Meanwhile, Essendon has made a play for an emerging Hawk as part of the clubs’ Zach Merrett talks. More in Trade Whispers.

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FRESH TWIST IN NIXED BUTTERS DEAL

There’s been a revelation about the floated Dogs-Power ‘top-up’ deal that the AFL shut down.

And it’s left figures at “multiple clubs” accusing the league’s powerbrokers of “changing history”.

It surfaced on Thursday that an AFL rule change formalised before last year’s trade period acted as a roadblock in negotiations between the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide over Zak Butters.

It came after Port’s Todd Marshall was earlier this week floated as a conduit to the clubs getting a deal done for Butters.

The hypothetical arrangement would have seen the Power walk away with Pick 5 as compensation for Butters leaving as a free agent, with Marshall also Bulldogs-bound as part of a separate trade.

The kicker was that Port Adelaide would pay a considerable portion of Marshall’s remaining salary, said to be roughly $800,000 annually across the last three years of the contract, to net two more first-round picks — or, ‘pick purchase’ — in its overall Butters package.

But to complicate matters, such a deal cannot be lodged.

In a Greg Swann-penned memo to clubs on Thursday, it was reminded that clubs cannot engage in trades that include financial ‘top-ups’ if a different player has already switched between the same clubs that year as a free agent.

“Any potential trade involving top-up payments must be communicated to the AFL Head of Football Performance, List Management and Engagement prior to the lodgement of the trade for approval by the AFL. Upon approval of the trade and top-up payments, a completed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) must be submitted within 48 hours of the trade approval,” reads Swann’s memo.

“As set out in a memo to clubs dated 26 September 2025, top-up payments will not be approved in relation to a trade between two Clubs who have engaged (or intend to engage) in a free agency exchange for a Restricted or Unrestricted Free Agent in the same player movement period.”

The 2025 change states: “Top-up payments will not be permitted in relation to a trade between two Clubs who have already engaged in a free agency exchange for a Restricted or Unrestricted Free Agent. For example, if a player exits Club A for Club B via free agency, Club A and Club B cannot agree to a trade involving top-up payments.”

Marshall, in theory, could still be traded to the Dogs in October, but the Power would not be able to pay any portion of his current deal.

But as revealed by SEN’s Sam Edmund on Friday morning, the AFL sneakily changed the wording in the memo to clubs.

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Edmund reports the aforementioned “or intend to engage” phrase in brackets wasn’t included in the initial communication crafted last year.

He says the Bulldogs and Power had been operating under the assumption they could lodge the Marshall ‘top-up’ trade before submitting free agency paperwork for Butters.

However, the insertion of the ‘intend to’ language means the clubs are back to the drawing board in arranging their Butters deal.

“I can tell you this morning that the AFL is actually being accused of making rules on the run, after it shut down this proposed Todd Marshall deal,” Edmund told SEN’s Fireball.

“Multiple sources at multiple clubs say the league has changed history by yesterday referencing a 2025 memo that had claimed prohibited clubs from trading with top-up payments before or after free agency exchanges in the same player movement period.”

Edmund says the Dogs and Power had been working on the Marshall deal — which would have seen Pick 12 and a future first head to Alberton — for “as long as two months”.

“Critically, they were working with the AFL on doing that deal before the Butters free agency move was finalised,” Edmund added.

“That ‘intend to engage’ wording has been inserted into the memo’s top-up payments chapter since last year.

“The change is critical, because the clubs were operating on the belief that trades with top-up payments — like the Marshall one — could be agreed upon before free agency moves were processed, as the memo suggests.

“Well-placed sources have claimed the AFL was actually working with the Dogs and Power for months on a number of options, including this Marshall trade, with both clubs intending to table that Marshall deal before the Butters free agency move was processed.”

BOMBERS’ PLAY FOR EMERGING HAWK

Zach Merrett’s Hawthorn move has long been in the works, but the machinations of a trade deal between Essendon and the Hawks are still playing out.

And the Bombers have their eyes on an emerging Hawthorn defender as part of a theoretical package sending ex-captain Merrett to Dingley.

Multiple reports have indicated that 20-year-old interceptor Noah Mraz is a player of interest at Tullamarine, with the Dons desperately hunting defensive reinforcement.

SEN’s Sam Edmund said Essendon has “asked the question” regarding Mraz, while AFL Media’s Callum Twomey reports the Bombers have put a four-year deal worth almost $3.5 million in front of the Hawk.

Mraz, whose contract at Hawthorn runs through the end of 2028, has also received interest from Gold Coast, though Edmund said “he has no interest in a move” to the Suns.

The Dandenong Stingrays product has played four senior games this year after the Hawks drafted him with Pick 35 in 2024.

Mraz notched 11 intercepts and had 24 disposals in Box Hill’s VFL preliminary final win over Essendon last weekend.

As for Merrett, the classy left-footer has a four-year deal worth $1 million per season on the table from the Hawks.

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