AFL 2024: Port Adelaide declares Zak Butters available for semi-final

Port Adelaide says All-Australian midfielder Zak Butters will take on Hawthorn in Friday night’s semi-final after he was eased through training on Tuesday. Butters was subbed out of the Power’s horror qualifying final loss to Geelong at halftime with sore ribs, but the club said after the game he had been cleared of any structural damage. The 24-year-old trained with a non-contact cap on at Alberton on Tuesday, but the Power said he would be ready to play in the Adelaide Oval clash. “Port Adelaide vice-captain Zak Butters will be available for Friday night’s semi-final against Hawthorn,” a club statement read. “Butters trained well with the squad on Tuesday after being subbed out of Thursday’s qualifying final at halftime with a rib injury.” Butters was the key instigator of the Power’s comeback from 41 points down to beat Hawthorn by a single point in round 10, amassing 17 disposals and five clearances in a dominant final term. Hawthorn had already ruled out star midfielder Will Day from returning in the semi-final, along with fellow on-baller Cam Mackenzie. Hawks fitness boss Peter Burge said on Monday night it was still too soon for Day to “progress to contact” as the club waits for his SC joint to become more stable. “We’re just not in a position to progress to contact, so the joint stability, the integrity of that needs to have improved and we’re not at a level where it has, and that’s a really important part of making this decision to progress to contact, the stability around the SC joint,” Burge said. “So at this stage, we’re still in the same situation that we can do a lot of training around it but we can’t do contact and if we can’t do contact training, we can’t play, so that’s frustrating. “But Will is a professional, he’s doing everything he can and he’s certainly working really, really hard on his game. If you were out here (on Monday), he’s doing some non-contact football drills, he looks fantastic, but we’re just not in a position to progress yet, unfortunately.” Mackenzie, who suffered a low grade hamstring injury at training ahead of the elimination final win, was expected to push his case for selection if the Hawks advanced to a preliminary final. Geelong ruled out Mark O’Connor from making a return this season as the hard-running Irishman was sent for surgery on damaged tendons in his wrist. The Cats did not rule out a return for forward Gary Rohan should they make the grand final, but he will miss at least their preliminary final as he recovers from surgery on a fractured skull. GWS expects Toby Bedford to return from a calf injury in its semi-final against Brisbane, while forward-ruck Jake Riccardi will be available for the second week in a row after recovering from finger surgery.