JASON Cripps must be a challenging poker player. As the Power's list manager since 2011, Cripps has played some masterful hands - perhaps none more meaningful to Yartapuulti's chase for greatness than his bidding and trumping at the trade table after the 2018 AFL season.
In an era when list and recruiting managers ask for five years before judging their work, the reflections on Cripps' pre-draft negotiations in the 2018 trade period might become known as the start of building an elite midfield that will carry Yartapuulti to its desired destination across the next decade.
A former club chief executive from the start of the VFL's expansion in 1987 towards a national competition always says his greatest lesson while becoming involved in recruiting was, as Kenny Rogers sang, "Know when to hold them, know when to fold them."
Cripps shuffled the deck of cards for the first-round picks at the 2018 AFL national draft with the cunning touch of the card shark Kenny Rogers sang about from the old saloons of the Wild West. He finished the trade period with an extraordinary hand of three first-round draft picks to hand to Yartapuulti recruiting manager Geoff Parker.
But for all that was made at the time about Cripps getting the Power into an earlier call - and adding a third pick in the first round - the true ace was already in his hand. It was there at the start. He never folded on that first-round draft pick served to him at the opening of the poker game that is AFL trading.
Yartapuulti ranked 10th at the end of the 2018 home-and-away series. In an uncompromised draft, the Power would have had the ninth call at the national recruiting table. It moved out, however, to No.12 after Gold Coast, North Melbourne and Sydney gained draft picks not attached to their premiership rankings in 2018 ... and the call could have blown out further had Carlton and Gold Coast been granted priority draft picks. For all the card shuffling Cripps took part in during the trade period, that No.12 never moved from his hand.
It was the trade period in which Yartapuulti farewelled Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard to North Melbourne; John Cahill Medallist Chad Wingard to Hawthorn; and Jack Hombsch to Gold Coast. The exits of Polec and Wingard were always the toughest to sell to a fan base that appreciated the duo's talent and work at Yartapuulti.
But you also have to give a bit away to get anything in the AFL system.
In a series of moves that still send the head spinning, Cripps collected draft pick No.11 from North Melbourne; turned it into No.6 with Fremantle and upgraded to Sam Mayes and No.5 at Brisbane.
When all the cards stopped flying across the trade table, Cripps had three aces - first-round draft picks at Nos. 5, 12 and 18 (that was listed at 15 before blowing out in another compromised draft with the first round augmented by free-agency compensation picks and academy calls).
Getting to No.5 to secure homegrown talent Connor Rozee - a player labelled as a future captain at Alberton - could have easily justified folding the No.12 pick into the trade mix. But Cripps held that vital card while other clubs (such as Brisbane, Narrm, Essendon, Walyalup, Sydney, Greater Western Sydney, Hawthorn and Adelaide in a live trade on draft night with Carlton) folded on their original first-round draft picks.
No.12 became Zak Butters. No.18 was Xavier Duursma.
Securing pick No.5 for the right to claim Rozee at the national draft would have been a success story in itself that year.
Holding the Power’s original first-round draft pick to call Butters at No.12 is the true triumph on review five years later.
Butters is challenging Rozee - while Duursma again is sidelined by injury - in the debate on which first-round draftee in that triple treat of first-rounds calls in 2018 is to be the most-influential player at Yartapuulti.
After testing the Power's supplier of tape for strapping his shoulders and knees across the past two years while rushing into contests where many others would fear to cast a shadow, Butters is healthy - and thriving.
Butters always was to be an interesting watch in Season 2023 after inheriting Robbie Gray's No.9 jumper. Same but different - Butters and Gray.
Both started their careers in different jumpers. Gray wore No.17 for his first six seasons at Port Adelaide before taking No.9 in 2013. Butters had No.18 for his first four years.
Both have tormented opponents either in the midfield or at goal face.
Yet, one seems reserved (Gray); the other (Butters) is so vibrant that his energy transfers from the field to the terraces with the Yartapuulti fans who live off Butters' infectious smile.
There was something regal about Gray. Butters is the court jester, or as his senior coach Ken Hinkley put it: "A tough, brave, little prick."
Butters rewrote his personal bests on Friday night. The 41 disposals in his 78th career match supersedes his previous best of 36 against Essendon at Adelaide Oval in round two of 2021 - his 38th AFL match.
"One of the greatest individual games you're ever likely to see," remarked Essendon goalkicking great Matthew Lloyd while watching Butters put on his masterclass at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.
Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon gave meaning to the 41 touches noting: "You can get 40 against some teams that are battling ... (but with Melbourne's midfield blessed with talent of) Jack Viney, Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver, if you walk off with 40 plus, then you have arrived as a footballer. We are talking the real sharp, pointy end of the talent pool in Zak Butters."
For context, Gray did not break the 40-touch barrier in his 271 matches from 2007 to last season. His career best was 39 against Essendon at the Docklands in Melbourne in round four, 2018 - his 181st match. But everyone will remember it was quality not quantity with Gray.
And there was top-shelf quality with Butters' work in the rain at Adelaide Oval.
"It rained for three quarters ... and Zak was clean," noted Hawthorn premiership player and former Melbourne midfielder Jordan Lewis. "And he gets his own ball - and uses it unbelievably well."
Gray did choose the right man to inherit his No.9 jumper.
Cripps did extremely well to hold onto that No.12 first-round draft pick in 2018.
ON REVIEW: How often has it been said in recent seasons: "But who has the Power beaten?" The constant knock was on Yartapuulti's lopsided win-loss record against top-eight rivals.
After 10 home-and-away games this season, Yartapuulti has beaten Narrm (ranked second before the match), Brisbane (in the season opener after being a preliminary finalist in 2022), Sydney (then fifth), Western Bulldogs (today ranked a top-six side), St Kilda (then the competition leader) and Essendon (which was out of the top eight only by percentage).
At 8-2, Yartapuulti has been tested by top-four contenders (and failed to just Collingwood); by teams that will challenge or be in the top-eight for much of this 23-game home-and-away season (and fallen only in the Showdown) ... and played just two non-contenders in West Coast and North Melbourne, winning both of these games.
It is an extraordinary tough start to the longest home-and-away season ever.
The AFL fixture is always a tricky exercise. Traditionally - and commercially - the fixture was based on 22 rounds, with a game at home against every rival in the league and a return match at each of the opposition's venues. Hence, home and away. But the tradition (and commercial plans) built on a 12-team Victorian Football League do not translate easily, if at all, to an 18-club national competition such as the Australian Football League.
Playing all 17 rivals once for 17 games in the minor round is not enough - and does not allow for two Showdowns each season.
Playing all 17 rivals twice in a true home-and-away format makes for a season that is far too long at 34 qualifying matches before a month of finals for the top-eight performers.
So how does the AFL settle on the double-up games - which were five extra games before the sixth was added this season for Gather Round - and maintain the thought it is a fair and balanced path to September's finals?
Since 2013, the AFL has split the 18 teams into three categories - top six, middle six and bottom six.
"You get," says AFL fixture boss Travis Auld, "a minimum of two and maximum of three double-up matches against teams in your bracket of six, and either one or two double-up games in each of the other two groups of six."
How did this play out for the 2023 fixture?
Yartapuulti was in the middle six after ranking 11th last season.
The Power has double-up games against 2022 premier Geelong and preliminary finalist Collingwood this year.
Yartapuulti has double-up matches against 2022 finalists Richmond and the Western Bulldogs.
The Power has just one game against a bottom-six team of 2022 - the inevitable Showdown in Adelaide.
So the team that ranked 10th in Season 2022 - St Kilda - would have a marginally tougher draw?
St Kilda plays one top-six side twice: Brisbane.
St Kilda plays one other 2022 finalist twice: Richmond.
St Kilda gets two games against 2022 bottom-six teams: Hawthorn and North Melbourne.
Intriguing.
By the AFL's own metrics, Yartapuulti had - at the release of the fixture at the end of last year - the fourth-toughest draw after 2022 grabs finalists Geelong and Sydney and 2022 finalist Fremantle. Today, the Power’s fixture is considered the toughest of 18.
St Kilda - which ranked higher than Yartapuulti in 2022 by winning one more game - had the 12th toughest draw after being the AFL's 10th-best performer.
More intriguing.
Gold Coast ranked 12th, one behind Yartapuulti, in Season 2022. It plays just two of last year's finalists twice this season - Sydney and the other double-up is against Brisbane to ensure a home-and-away theme for the Q Clash. On the release of this fixture, the AFL's in-house metrics rated this as the 10th hardest assignment list (for a team that was 12th in 2022).
Again, intriguing ... and yet another pointer to the long-running debate on the fixture needing some serious analysis. As one sage once said, every problem is a solution in disguise.
