Port Adelaide has avoided a disastrous setback a fortnight out from the commencement of their 2024 campaign, with gun ball-winner Zak Butters cleared of an ankle injury.
Butters failed to finish Port's pre-season clash against Fremantle at Alberton Oval after being taken out ahead of quarter-time.
The Brownlow fancy was captured by cameras wincing after rolling his ankle on the outer wing, with both Butters and his ankle put on ice with less than ten minutes gone on the clock.
While vision of the 23-year-old on the bench no doubt sent Power fans into a collective state of shock, Butters was quick to quell fears before they could kick into overdrive.
Zak Butters provides an update on his ankle injury, saying he should be right for Round One ๐ค
๐บ Watch #AFLPowerFreo on ch. 504 or stream on Kayo: https://t.co/5pvFrogOLO
โ๏ธ BLOG https://t.co/WcsMFUaHA6
๐ข MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/dvvlDUACEA pic.twitter.com/xuNdgPGW5H— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) March 1, 2024
"It was a bit silly of me, I just happened to roll it by myself running," Butters told Fox Footy after the 39-point win on home soil.
"(There are) a couple of weeks before we play our opening game, so hopefully (I can) get it right for that.
"I'll get stuck into rehab in the next week or two. We've got a few days off now, so plenty of time to rest it."
Head coach Ken Hinkley added his own thoughts post-game, stating that Port was never going to take a risk damaging a valuable asset in Butters when no premiership points were on the line.
โWe didn't want to take a risk, he is not the sort of player who you want to mess around with," he said.
โI don't care how many minutes we have to play he is not going to be here.
โI think Zak's already spoken to the media himself and is reasonably bullish that he'll be okay.
โBut it's good timing. We've got a week to get him over the incident and then a week to prepare him for the next game so that'll be nice.
โLet's be fair dinkum here, we don't really need to make his ankle any more swollen than it already was at the start and if you're going back out, that would clearly happen.
โSo, it is a simple rolled ankle and you'd be very surprised if he's not available for round one so that's as much accuracy as I can give you.โ
Alongside new skipper Connor Rozee, Butters will again act as one of Port's brightest sparkplugs this season, with the former first-round draftee backing up after of earning John Cahill Medal honours, a debut All-Australian blazer and 27 Brownlow votes in 2023.
Butters and Port Adelaide are scheduled to start their 2024 season when they play host to West Coast at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, March 17.
