A mid-sized defender and occasional midfielder, he played in West Coast's 2006 premiership team, but missed the entire next season due to injury.
From Gawler in country South Australia, Butler only took up football when he was a teenager, having previously played under-16 soccer for his state.
A member of the AIS/AFL Academy, Butler played for South Australia at the AFL Under 18 Championships in both 2002 and 2003, and also won a reserves SANFL premiership with Central District in the latter season.
He notched up a further 13 games (14 games in total for the season) and having a superb 2006 final series, in particular his performances against the Western Bulldogs in the semi-final (30 disposal, 3 marks, 6 tackles), Adelaide in the preliminary final (22 disposals, 6 marks, 1 goal), as well as being part of the 2006 premiership winning team over Sydney.
[3][4] 2015 was a successful year for Butler, he played a personal record of 17 games and was one of the best players for the Eagles in the 2015 Finals series.