John Butcher

Who is John Butcher?

John Butcher is an Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League. He was the earliest of the three Port Adelaide players drafted in the first round in the 2009 AFL Draft.

Originally from Maffra, Victoria, Butcher is a versatile key position prospect with great agility and pace for his size. Butcher is an excellent contested mark and has been noted for his "clean hands". He was extremely impressive at the AFL Draft Camp with his speed and repeat sprints being in the top 28 per cent of all players. He kicked 40 goals for the year for Gippsland Power and Vic Country in 16 games. He was a Vic Country Under 18 representative in both 2008 and 2009, including kicking three goals against Vic Metro in 2009. Butcher is also an AIS-AFL Academy graduate. He was widely tipped to be the first key-position player to be selected in the 2009 draft.

Due to injuries and the time needed to develop key position players, Butcher didn't debut until Round 21 of 2011. In his second match against Western Bulldogs he kicked 6 straight goals from six disposals.