THE WESTERN Bulldogs had "lost 95 per cent of their hope" of signing Zak Butters in recent weeks before the superstar midfielder landed on the Dogs as his new home.

AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey broke the news on Saturday morning than Butters had chosen the Bulldogs over Geelong after being offered a nine-year deal by the club he supported as a boy.

On a special episode of AFL Daily on Saturday afternoon, Twomey said recent belief in the industry that Butters was leaning towards joining the Cats "was real", to the point the Bulldogs had begun to work through other trade plans.

But the 26-year-old's connection to the club and the western suburbs, as well as his friendship with recently re-signed Dogs defender Buku Khamis, proved decisive.

"Geelong were being favoured by Butters - that was real," Twomey said on AFL Daily.

"To a point where the Bulldogs had lost 95 per cent of their hope, I would say. They were moving on to plan B and C and starting to scour the market, such as their Matt Rowell interest.

"They were telling rival clubs that they were starting to make other plans.

"But they never gave up on the chase ... they upgraded to a nine-year deal and made it the biggest offer in footy history.

"In the end, the locality, the geographical pull ... and coming home to the western suburbs (got him over the line).

"He grew up a Bulldogs fan. He had the poster of Marcus Bontempelli on the wall. He's a true son of the west and now he becomes the Bulldogs' new son of the west."

Twomey says the Butters decision is "the big domino to fall" ahead of this year's trade period, which is set to have a flow-on effect for the likes of Toby Greene, Rowan Marshall, Zach Merrett and Matt Rowell.

Listen to the full episode of AFL Daily above to hear more on why Butters landed on the Dogs, how the two clubs get a deal done, what the Cats do next and more.