Port Adelaide are “furious” with the AFL after Zak Butters was found guilty of umpire abuse in a landmark tribunal hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

And as the fallout into the verdict intensifies, leading AFL commentators believe there is “no way” umpire Nick Foot can officiate games involving Power in the immediate future.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Port Adelaide furious after Butters verdict

Butters stands by knowing what he did “and didn’t say” to Foot, who was adamant he heard the superstar say, “How much are they paying you.”

The Power stand-in skipper was hit with a $1500 fine after the tribunal took just over 30 minutes to hand down their verdict, but they didn’t reveal the reasons for the decision.

It has since emerged that tribunal chair Renee Enbom KC and panel member Jason Johnson had prior commitments, which meant only the verdict could only be delivered when usually there would be another 15-20 minutes of explanation.

Johnson also briefly left the virtual hearing to transfer to his phone and was actually in a car as the hearing came to an end.

The reasons for the guilty verdict will be released on Wednesday in a move that has angered the Power as they weigh up an appeal.

Butters was emphatic in his denial of not saying “how much are they paying you”, but changed his story slightly on exactly what he said.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Xander McGuire after the match, Butters revealed he said something along the lines of “how is that a free kick” but in the tribunal his comment changed to, “surely that’s not a free kick”.

The AFL went hard on that on that inconsistency, but the Power said it was irrelevant and Butters knew what he didn’t say, which he reiterated in a brief statement after the hearing.

Channel 7’s Caroline Wilson said there is now some serious “bad blood” between both sides.

“Port Adelaide are furious. The AFL are contemptuous of both Zak Butters and of the Port Adelaide Football Club,” she said on The Agenda Setters.

“They continue to say that Zak Butters has changed his version of events too many times to be a credible witness, whereas they say their man, the umpire Nick Foot was entirely credible.

“Port Adelaide’s frustration is on many levels, not least because their head judge, the chair of the tribunal, Renee Enbom, and at least one tribunal member, Jason Johnson, had to leave straight after the verdict was delivered, so Port can’t talk to us tonight.

“We briefly heard from Zak Butters, but they can’t even decide whether they’re going to appeal, because they still don’t know exactly why Zak Butters was found guilty.

“They feel aggrieved on behalf of their Brownlow medallist, Ollie Wines, who was clearly disbelieved by the tribunal.”

Both parties had tried to settle the dispute before the tribunal, but neither would back down.

“I can tell you now that all day yesterday, some form of outcome was attempted,” Wilson continued.

“The AFL wanted to manage the outcome, but their outcome only involved Zak Butters admitting he’d made a mistake in agreeing to pay the fine. Zak Butters refused.

“This morning, while Zak Butters was training, Port Adelaide went back to the AFL, another conversation, and said surely, the two men can sit down and have a conversation and maybe they will agree to disagree, and there will be a joint press conference or whatever, and both will agree that ... I mean, Port’s version was, ‘we’re not saying Nick Foot is lying, but we believe Nick Foot misheard Zak Butters’.

“There was a lot of evidence to suggest it might have been hard to hear at that time. Nick Foot did not want a bar of it. He would not meet with Zak Butters, by that time, too late, wanted to go to the tribunal.

“These arguments went on until 2pm today, and then the outcome unfolded.

“The AFL believed that not only did Zak change his quote from what he told Xander McGuire on Channel 7 after the game. There was a text message yesterday in which a different quote, according to the AFL, came out, and then, of course, his evidence today.”

“The AFL is saying that that is just not good enough, and they don’t believe Zak Butters. So, essentially, head office, and its tribunal, has basically said Zak Butters is lying.”

Given the current situation, Wilson and Kane Cornes believes there is “no way” Foot can umpire Port Adelaide games again, while Butters is still at the club.

“Nick Foot refuses to speak to Zak Butters after the game ... if he’s refusing mediation, there’s no way Nick Foot can umpire a Port Adelaide game ever again whilst Zak Butters is playing for the club,” Cornes said.

Wilson added: “The other problem going forward for Port Adelaide and Nick Foot is that Zak Butters isn’t apologising because he said he did nothing wrong.”

“No way (will he umpire Port Adelaide again). Of course not.”