AFL

In-game reports should be scrapped: Port coach

Apr 17, 2026

The AFL should scrap in-game reporting of players to avoid controversies like the Zak Butters case, Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr says.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

And while Butters has spent a week in an unwanted spotlight, Carr is adamant the gun midfielder won't be impacted when Port meet Hawthorn on Saturday in Melbourne.

"It doesn't matter what comes his way: when he gets challenged, he only gets better," Carr said.

Port's triple club champion was fined $1500 by the AFL tribunal on Tuesday for abusing field umpire Nick Foot during the Power's loss to St Kilda last Sunday night.

The club are appealing the verdict, with a hearing set for Monday.

Foot told the tribunal Butters asked him: 'How much are they paying you?' after awarding the Saints a free kick.

Butters vehemently denied making that comment but the tribunal sided with the umpire, who reported Butters at the time of the incident.

"One of the things for me is, why do we report players in the game?" Carr told reporters on Friday.

"What's the necessity in doing that?

"I think the technology, everything is there now to deal with it post game. And that would help the situation, no doubt about it."

Carr spoke with Butters on Wednesday and was immediately satisfied the 25-year-old's performance against Hawthorn wouldn't be impacted.

"Coming in the next morning, he came in with a smile on his face and was ready to go - and he said that: 'I'm ready to go, I'm ready to play'," he said.

"He has matured over the years, Zak, and he's learned a lot about himself and a lot about the way that he deals with this sort of stuff.

"So I have got absolute confidence in what it looks like for this game."

The fixture against the third-placed Hawks (four wins, one loss) looms as an acid test for the Power, sitting 11th with two wins and three defeats.

But Carr said the Butters controversy wouldn't add any motivation to his players.

"It's not about using that, because we're obviously playing against a really good team," he said.

"So the motivation is there to play good footy against a good side.

"There has been noise in the background. But there's always a lot of noise around in each week with what it looks like so you learn pretty quickly how to deal with that."