BUKU Khamis was left at the altar on deadline day. At least it felt that way.

After requesting a trade to Carlton in September, the lucrative move to Ikon Park didn't eventuate in October. But it might end up being a blessing in disguise.

In the space of four hours on the final day of the Trade Period, a villa in the Balinese village of Canggu experienced the full gamut of emotions. Changkuoth Jiath secured his trade wish, moving from Hawthorn to Melbourne in the afternoon. But down the hallway, Khamis didn't. 

The 26-year-old had requested a trade to the Blues in search of more senior opportunities and agreed to a three-year contract. The Western Bulldogs were open to accommodating the move, but weren't prepared to let him go without adequate compensation, especially given he was contracted for 2026.

But with the Charlie Curnow trade being lodged three minutes before the 7.30pm AEST deadline, the Blues ran out of time – and trade capital – to land Khamis. The Dogs eyed pick No.31, but that was sent to Sydney as part of the deal for the dual Coleman medallist. A pick in the 40s wasn't going to get it done.

It meant Khamis returned from Indonesia, dusted himself off, then went straight back to work at the Whitten Oval like nothing had happened. But it did happen. And it has contributed to a career-best burst. 

"It was a very stressful time, just waiting for the phone call from your manager. You've got friends and family as well, curious of what's going on. You're watching the (Deadline Day) show and just waiting for a call from your manager or the footy club," Khamis recalled to AFL.com.au this week.

"But I'm just happy that it's worked out that way it has. Obviously, I was keen for more opportunity at AFL level because I feel like I'm an AFL player and I want to play as much AFL footy as I can. I'm happy that I'm doing that here at the Bulldogs.

"But ... it's still the first few rounds, so I've got a lot more of the season to play out.”

Khamis had travelled to Bali with Jiath and his brother Tew, the young Collingwood defender, and Magpies star Isaac Quaynor. 'CJ' was relieved when his trade materialised, but aware of the challenging situation Khamis faced back in Melbourne.

"Buku is an energy giver; he cares a lot about other people, so he wasn't really showing it because he wants everyone to be happy, but we could tell he was devastated," Jiath told AFL.com.au in November. "I think he'll change the narrative and become a really good player for the Western Bulldogs. Even the way he was training a couple of days after the deadline, he looks like a man on a mission."

Six months on, that line from Jiath is poignant. Khamis has changed the narrative. He wasn't unhappy at the kennel. Far from it. He just wanted more opportunities. Now he has taken that chance and enhanced his status in the game.

"I've been here eight years, so I have a lot of friendships with the players and staff. It definitely wasn't that I unhappy, it was just more about senior AFL opportunities. That's all it was," Khamis says.

"There were a few jokes here and there with my close teammates just about how it all played out, but the love was always going to be there. I didn't feel like it was going to fluctuate. I have I have a really good relationship with the staff, coaches, my teammates as well. I felt 100 per cent comfortable walking back into the footy club, which is a good feeling to have. I'm still loving my time here as well."

Khamis played everywhere in 2025: 38 per cent defence, 11 per cent ruck and 51 per cent forward. He started last season down back when Liam Jones was sidelined, then was moved forward when Sam Darcy injured his knee, before being squeezed out of the 23 altogether.

The 194cm utility played 14 senior games in all, down from 17 the previous year. But after the Bulldogs had a swing - and missed - at Jack Silvagni, then Cal Wilkie and then Mark Keane in the trade period, Khamis has held down a key role in an undefeated start to the season.

Four rounds in, Khamis is one of only three general defenders to rate elite for intercept marks, intercept possessions and spoils so far in 2026, along with Sydney co-captain Callum Mills and GWS young gun Joe Fonti.

"I feel settled, I like playing in the backline," he says. "I feel like it is a position where I can play my best at AFL level and it's really good. The team's playing well, putting on pressure up the field, which makes it much easier for the back seven to read the pressure and intercept.

"I still feel like I'm capable to play as a forward and play a role for the team, because I played a lot of my juniors up forward. But I do feel like backline is where I can get the most out of myself and help the team win."

When Khamis was first recruited to the club, Luke Beveridge thought he was 'a million to one to play a game'. Then, after the coronavirus pandemic hiatus, the 2016 premiership coach increased those odds to 'two million to one to debut'. But, despite the early doubts, he was picked for the first time in 2021, much to the delight of many in the building. Since then Khamis has developed the endurance and football IQ that now marks him as one of the more attractive free agents of 2026.

Beveridge, like many inside the kennel, is personally invested in Khamis' progress. After all, he is a coach that will never be defined by wins or losses. Player development manager Brent Prismall has also been with him since he arrived at the club. They want the best for him, which is why they were prepared to let him go. But they were thrilled it didn't eventuate.

"When push came to shove, Carlton offered us nothing and we wanted what was best for him," Beveridge said last month, before Opening Round. "We were prepared if the deal was right to look after him, if that's really what he wanted to do. But we knew that we weren't going to let him go if we didn't get the value we thought.

"There's no way we were going to let him go. He's too valuable for us, and he's such a beautiful human being. He's added so much to our club, just as a person that pumps happiness and care into the place."

The backline is vastly different to the group that was eliminated by Fremantle in round 24 last season. They are not all works of art, but they have repainted the Bulldogs defence. Connor Budarick moved from Gold Coast to play as a small defender, Michael Sellwood arrived midway through last season and is now in the best 23, while Lachie Jaques secured a spot over the pre-season, alongside dual All-Australian Bailey Dale. Key posts James O'Donnell and Rory Lobb are also getting the job done. And so is Khamis. 

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THE BULLDOGS changed the direction of Khamis' life well before he was the first player drafted out of the club's Next Generation Academy in 2018. After being born in war-torn South Sudan in 2000, Khamis and his family spent time in a refugee camp in Kenya before emigrating to Australia in 2006.

They settled in Melbourne's north-west where Buku attended St Albans Primary School. It was there where he was first introduced to footy at the age of 11. His first game was at the Whitten Oval as part of the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation's Ready Settle Go program. And when he went on a school excursion to Marvel Stadium to watch the Dogs, he was hooked.

"That was like my first big exposure to footy out here at Whitten Oval in a 10 v 10 game. We also went to a school excursion to watch a footy game at Marvel Stadium. After watching that it was like, 'oh I want to try to this,'" he remembers.

Buku grew up with four brothers and his biological parents, but he also has another family. Charles Grech and his partner Kellie Ryan were coach and team manager of the under-12s at St Albans Football Club when they first met Khamis. The connection deepened over the years to the point where Buku moved in with them and their three kids at the age of 17, with the blessing of his parents. They helped nurture his AFL dream, which is why some inside the Western Bulldogs see similarities with The Blind Side, the Hollywood hit based on a true story involving a remarkable rise from college football to the NFL, given the profound impact on Khamis' life.

Khamis moved out when he was 23 years old, but he still attends dinner every Wednesday night at the Grech-Ryan household in Hillside. They rarely miss a game, anywhere in the country. They have travelled to Brisbane and Adelaide already this year and will be back across the border in Gather Round for the clash against Hawthorn next week. And they are at every club function, representing Buku, not as his parents, but certainly as part of his family.

"They're honestly like family. They are my family - I'm lucky to have two families," Khamis says.

"I'm grateful for them. Without Charles and Kellie, I don't think I would be here, to be honest. Early days, taking me to training, then being there for me through all the ups and downs. I will be forever grateful for what they've done for me.”

Dave Newton is another who has been there every step of the way. First as Western Region Football League operations manager, then as Next Generation Academy manager and now in the football department at the Bulldogs. It was Newton who helped him move in with the Grech-Ryan family and organise the logistics. No one is prouder at the club than the low-key operator, who wants no credit, but has played a key role in his development.

Khamis now lives with Dale and his wife Erin down the road in Newport, along with young key defender Jedd Busslinger. He gets called 'Buuks' for short, but it wasn't always that way. Dale Morris was in the final season of his career when Khamis was drafted. His son thought his name was 'Bluetooth' and the nickname stuck for a long time.

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HERITAGE is important to Khamis. His parents moved here for a better life, but he craves a deeper understanding of where he is from. He frequents Ethiopian restaurants in Footscray (there aren't many Sudanese restaurant options in Melbourne) and feels connected to his culture in and around the market. It's important for Khamis to speak his native tongue Dinka, as often as possible, to strengthen that connection.

"Sometimes I speak a bit too much English," he says with a smile. "So I feel just hanging around with my people helps me stay connected and grounded. I do that through the boys that play AFL from African backgrounds or a Sudanese background as well. We often stay connected to each other."

Khamis is part of a booming generation of Africans having an impact in the AFL. The Jiath brothers were born in Ethiopia to South Sudanese parents. Aliir Aliir and Leek Aleer were both born in Kenya and Mac Andrew in Egypt; all three to South Sudanese parents. Brandon Walker was born in Ghana, while Joel Amartey, Connor Idun and Quaynor all have Ghanian heritage.

Majak Daw was Khamis' idol growing up. He wanted to be just like him. Then it was Aliir. Now he is hoping to inspire the next generation of African children in the western suburbs of Melbourne. Every fortnight he is involved in the GOAL program run by the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation, as part of the African action plan, paying it forward.

"If they can see it, they can be it," he says. "It's all about inspiring change, not just to play a sport but to do anything in life. You need to grow up with good direction in your life.

"I was fortunate enough to be a part of the NGA, so that helped me with life and footy. I want to be able to give back as well; it is important to me because obviously I grew up in the western suburbs. Sometimes just showing up and being there is enough to motivate and encourage young boys and girls."

This time last year, Khamis was invited to speak on a panel at Gather Round in Adelaide advocating for a representative game for players from a multicultural background. Softly spoken, but to the point, Khamis held the attention of dignitaries in that moment and still hopes to see it introduced in future.

"One hundred percent, there's definitely an appetite there," he says. "There's a lot more players from multicultural heritage in the AFL, which is pretty cool. So I feel that no doubt a game against the Indigenous fellas or something like that in the pre-season would go pretty crazy.

"The boys would absolutely froth that."

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THREE good games doesn't make a season, Khamis knows that. He has been in and out of the side so often since making his debut – dropped seven or eight times – that he isn't getting carried away with his form, despite the external interest in his story right now. But the roles have been impressive to date; he kept Cam Rayner to one goal in Opening Round, Jesse Hogan and Jake Stringer both goalless in round one, then registered 11 spoils and 10 intercepts from 20 touches against Adelaide in round two. 

Western Bulldogs player acquisition and strategy manager Michael Regan and GM Sam Power offered him a two-year deal extension last year and have had to up the offer. Khamis will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and will appeal to more clubs than just Carlton, given that status and the lack of key defensive options available in 2026.

But Khamis won't progress those discussions with his manager, Ray Purcell from OMP Sports, just yet. In an ideal world, he sees his long-term future is in the red, white and blue, but he needs to make the best decision for his playing future.

"I would love that. I love the club. I love the group here, the staff, the players. The love will always be there; it started from the Next Gen Academy days, so we go way back," he says.

"I feel like for me, I just want to keep playing good footy. Obviously the team is in an OK spot at the moment in terms of how we're performing. I feel like we still have some areas of improvement and so do I. It's only round four, so it's still so super early.

"I've spoken to my manager. I just want to focus on playing good footy, helping the team win as well, staying connected in the back seven. That's really all I'm going to focus on at the moment. The rest will take care of itself."

If Khamis keeps taking care of business, the business will take of him.