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Butcher decision soon

The immediate playing future of boom Port Adelaide youngster John Butcher is expected to be known in the next few days, while key defender Alipate Carlile has signed a new deal with the club.

Butcher has emerged from nowhere over the past three weeks, kicking 12 goals in his first three AFL games, including six in the loss against Western Bulldogs in Round 22.

He has now become one of the hottest out-of-contract talents in the game, and with Port Adelaide struggling for form, there has been has been an expectation that the Victorian wants to return home.

His manager Paul Connors will meet with Butcher and a few of his Port Adelaide team-mates on Tuesday night with a view to sorting out his immediate future.

"John Butcher is a big boy and he'll tell me what he wants to do," Connors told SEN on Tuesday.

"I'm going over to have dinner with him, the captain Dom Cassisi and a couple of other good young players I manage over there, Ben Jacobs, Aaron Young and Andrew Moore."

Connors doesn't expect a decision from Butcher until he has discussed his future with his family in Gippsland, but did say that Moore would re-sign this week.

He said that he had discussed Butcher with a number of other AFL clubs, but new franchise GWS wasn't one of them.

"I don't think anyone knew about John Butcher four weeks ago, but he's certainly on the tip of everyone's tongue," he said.

"Port fans, you'd love him to stay, but if the coaching landscape has changed then I think the playing landscape has changed and he's allowed to have a choice if he wants to come home."

Carlile, 24, is the second key defender to stay at the club within in a week after Jackson Trengove committed last week.

Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus said over the weekend that he was expecting several out-of-contract players, including Butcher and Moore, to sort out their futures sooner rather than later.

"Butch is going to be important for us for the future, no doubt, like Jackson (Trengove) who has re-signed, we are working hard on (Alipate) Carlile and (Matthew) Lobbe, those guys too, so hopefully in the next week we can have some good news in that regard," he said.

But while he is trying to secure the future big men of the team, Primus admitted that it is in the midfield where he needs to bulk up his depth.

"Like most teams, you are trying to beef up your on-ballers. We need to do that, along with the periphery things of getting bigger, stronger and fitter," he said.

"We need to bolster our midfield group and look for some support for Lobbe."