The Dogs enjoyed a successful 2026 Continental Tyres Trade Period, adding four players and a host of picks across the week. 

Speaking following the conclusion of 'Deadline Day', Player Acquisition and Strategy Manager Michael Regan had the following to say. 

On Zak Butters acquisition: 

“It’s a really exciting moment for the footy club.

“It’s one that’s been a lot of work to get to this point. The process is one that covers a wide range of components of this job and of the whole footy department, which is really a team effort and something that we’re proud of as a football club, that we were able to bring Zak over the line.

“It starts a long way out with broad conversations and then throughout the year you get the chance to meet with various people along the way in and around Zak and his circle of people.

“There have been a few stories that have come out through the week.

“To be able to finally get the deal done in terms of lodging the free-agency paperwork and then Port Adelaide not matching, and to be able to have a smooth transition for Zak into the footy club, is really exciting.

“We look forward to seeing him in a Bulldogs jumper for a long time to come.”

On the pick swaps and strengthening the draft hand: 

“We do a lot of work behind the scenes as a list-management group where we’re trying to work out different methods on how we can set the Club up through different acquisition periods through some great drafting over the past four or five years.

“Jamie Downes, Dom Milesi and Sam Power have been able to set the Club up with a youthful core, with the fifth-youngest best 23 selected on average this year.

“It allows us to have a bit of confidence.

"In doing that, we did some pretty heavy data analysis led by Sam McIntosh that showed us some various paths that we could take to try and push ourselves from competing to contending. One of those things was to look at 22 to 27-year-olds this year and build out our hand into the Tassie period because Tassie presents a really unique opportunity for all clubs to potentially get back into drafts.

“The obvious way there is through first-round picks. There’s also another way you can look at that. There are other mechanisms such as mini drafts or being a facilitator within trades to try and hopefully get back involved.

“We’ve taken a slightly different approach to that and built out our future hand. We feel like we’re pretty well placed to be able to be active on certain levels over the next couple of years as well.”

On Finn McGinnes and Hudson O'Keeffe:

“They’re great acquisitions for us and they probably got lost a little bit as everything else happened.

“They were obviously part of that trade that set us up into the Tassie years.

“Finn brings a toughness and an uncompromising edge to the midfield. With Libba unfortunately getting the tap on the shoulder from Father Time, we had to try and replace him. Finn brings that edge and allows the other midfielders to play into their strengths a little bit more.

“He’s also shown at VFL level this year, especially, that he’s been able to be damaging in the front half, setting up and generating shots at goal.

“Hudson is someone who has probably had some frustrations with his body over the last little while, but has an ability to compete and a relentless competitiveness in the air that we’re looking to add to the list.

“He’s pretty versatile. I think the fans probably saw against us out here later in the year. His first quarter especially, he ripped us apart. But we’d already been tracking him at that point. He brings some aerial presence for us in the ruck and up forward.”

On Jordon Butts:

“Again, it was something where we were able to look at it and say Jordon brings something that our group could probably do with more support in, which is that one-on-one defending and the ability to halve contests when the game is not quite in our favour.

“He’s also a really good interceptor and we feel that with a slightly different defensive system we might be able to unlock a little bit more out of Jordon in terms of what he can do with the ball and offensively.”

On the upcoming draft:

“For us, it’s an interesting one to look at now.

“There’s probably a feeling as well to, ‘How are they going to get Khaled done?’

“With the future hand that we have, we’re able to read, react and understand what’s happening on draft night and even in the upcoming pick-swap period where we might be able to position ourselves to match Khaled.

“We’ve still got a great deal of flexibility.

“Looking more broadly beyond Khaled, we feel like there’s a pretty deep draft this year. One where there is going to be a lid for every pot in terms of what clubs are looking for.

“We’re pretty excited by what the draft offers, no matter what range you’re picking in.”