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Gold Coast Cats head of football Andrew Mackie addressed the failed pursuit of Zak Butters, stating that while Geelong was reluctant to trade, the Cats were prepared to meet Port Adelaide demands within reason. Mackie expressed optimism about the clubs future cap space and linked them to potential targets Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Matt Rowell.
football boss Andrew Mackie has set the record straight on the failed pursuit of Zak Butters, while revealing the Cats are well placed to land a big fish next year.
Reports have since emerged that Geelong were reluctant to discuss a suitable trade for Port Adelaide, which in part contributed to Butters choosing the Bulldogs. Mackie was “not sure” where it wrong for the Cats, but was glad to have the chance to pitch to Butters.
“We’re really thankful that we got a chance to talk to him over a couple of year period and put ourselves in a place where we felt like we were a chance to land him,” Mackie told Trade Radio on Thursday. “We were made aware that the Bulldogs went pretty hard a couple of times after we’d put a financial offer in. We stuck to our parameters on what we think is right in that situation, albeit there is flexibility.
“But credit to the Bulldogs. He chose them and on we go. We were really optimistic about what we have, what we can do.
“So I’m not sure about where it went wrong. Only Zak and Peter Lenton can probably talk to that. We wish everyone well. ”Add 7NEWS as your preferred news source on Google “That was a non-issue from our end.
We drove up to Zak’s management and made it really clear that from a trade point of view we’d do anything within reason that Port Adelaide wanted to do from a trade point of view,” he said.
“So they would have been really clear, the manager brokers that, we’d been in contact with Port Adelaide. I’m confident the deal would have got done.
“From our point of view, we’re really clear and made it really clear that we would have done whatever it took to get a trade done to Port Adelaide, as I said, within reason. While the Cats missed out on landing Butters, they will now have the cap space to turn their attentions to their next big trade target. Superstars Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Matt Rowell both come out of contract next year and have already been linked to the Cats.
“I’d like to think that that’s part of what we need to be great at. There’s lots of things that go into doing what Brisbane did on the weekend.
“Being proactive in this space is one of them, and continuing to be a club and hold ourselves accountable to providing an environment to our players and staff that they’d love to come and thrive. “That’s where all the work goes into. We want to keep giving ourselves chances to talk to these players. That’s where our focus goes to.
The Cats will once again be busy players in the trade period with GWS veteran Toby Greene set to land as a free agent as early as Friday. They are also pursuing Essendon defender Jordan Ridley and St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall, who are both contracted.
“That’s not something that we’ve sat down and discussed. I’m aware there’s been some reporting around Nick maybe thinking about us,” Mackie said.
“I try not to delve into the hypotheticals this time of year, it’s dangerous territory. There’s probably a hundred of those guys. But that’s not something we’ve thought about other than reading some speculation. ”
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