Retired Daniel Merrett (2002-2016)

[Grimreepah]

Link

Surf's not up for Coast Aussie rules stars
Terry Wilson
01Feb08

THE looks in their eyes suggested they would love to have responded in the positive when asked if they would one day like to be part of a new AFL team based on the Gold Coast.

But reality won through for three products of the Coast junior production line at the launch of the AFL's 2008 program at the Northcliffe lifesaving club yesterday.

Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda), David Hale (North Melbourne) and Daniel Merrett (Brisbane) were special guests, brought to the Coast to highlight the depth of elite players from this area.

All three were asked basically the same question: If the chance ever arose, could they see themselves in a new Gold Coast jumper?

All three took the diplomatic line, saying they were happy with their current situations and that their energies were being channelled in that direction. But, they agreed, if circumstances were to change, so could their loyalties.

Riewoldt, of course, would be a huge catch for a new Coast franchise. The four-time St Kilda best and fairest winner and all-Australian would be a marquee player back at home.

The three were then put on the spot when, without notice, they were asked what they think a new Coast team should be called.

They came up with a mixed, and unusual, bag. Merrett went for the Rowers, because of the surf boat connection.

Hale thought the Marlins would be good, although he then questioned if there were many marlins in our seas.

"What about the Nippers?" asked Riewoldt. "Or even the Sharks. What are they up to?"

Riewoldt's rise to AFL prominence started at Broadbeach juniors, then on to Southport and to the Saints.

Hale was a Coolangatta junior, who played with Broadbeach before being drafted by the Kangaroos, while Merrett went from Surfers Paradise, through Southport and on to the Lions.

 

[BigCat2]

Reason against a Gold Coast team: keep Dan Merrett at the Lions. And perhaps Mills, Kiel and Tippett down the track.

Also, we still want first dibs on all Queenslanders in the rookie draft.

 

[Ray Button]

Seems like Daniel Merrett has hit a speed bump:

In today's Courier Mail, our old mate Andrew Hamilton reports -

"Lions defender Daniel Merrett had minor surgery on his knee yesterday that will rule him out of much of the NAB Cup.
. . . .
A small tear in the lateral meniscus is considered an uncomfortable irritation more than a major problem - which means a player could put up with the pain."

Hopefully that is all it is, and both Merrett and McGrath will be back in action in time for the season proper start.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Get well soon Dan.

I wonder who will play fullback in the NAB cup..

Tyler and Clouston strong possibilities...

 

[Warwick]

A bit of a shame really because Merrett still needs plenty of game time down back and our youngsters would be a lot more comfortable with him manning the big forwards in the NAB Cup.

 

[Grimreepah]

Seems like Daniel Merrett has hit a speed bump:

In today's Courier Mail, our old mate Andrew Hamilton reports -

"Lions defender Daniel Merrett had minor surgery on his knee yesterday that will rule him out of much of the NAB Cup.
. . . .
A small tear in the lateral meniscus is considered an uncomfortable irritation more than a major problem - which means a player could put up with the pain."

Hopefully that is all it is, and both Merrett and McGrath will be back in action in time for the season proper start.

The Lions website reported that it was a 4-6 week injury on Feb 1st. Our first game is on 22nd Mar so hopefully he'll be right to go.

Seems odd that there was plenty of press coverage about McGrath's 4-6 week knee injury while Merrett's 4-6 week knee injury hardly got a mention.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Here is one from the "Useless Stats File".

Daniel Merrett was the only player in the competition to spend the entire 22 2007 Home & Away games on the field.

i.e. He played 22 games and did not come off for a rest once.

 

[Grimreepah]

It's amazing how far Merrett has progressed in a short period of time. In 2006 people were questioning his future and now people are saying we struggle to win games without him.

 

[Grimreepah]

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Big Merrett's return to brittle defence welcomed
Nick Smart
03Mar08

GOLD Coast product Daniel Merrett will play his first game of the season this weekend, and it could not come at a better time for the Brisbane Lions.
It was not too long ago that Merrett's future at the club was under a cloud before he was given a chance in the backline.
He is now the club's No.1 defender and his absence in the NAB Cup because of a knee injury has not gone unnoticed. With Merrett watching from the sidelines, the Lions have struggled defensively during their pre-season campaign, losing three games in a row.
The former Surfers Paradise junior was expected to miss the entire NAB Cup after having minor surgery on his knee last month.
But he has been training strongly and is ready to return for this weekend's NAB Regional Challenge match against the Sydney Swans in Canberra.
With the Lions struggling in their back half, coach Leigh Matthews said he was thrilled to have Merrett back in the side.
"At the moment he is out and Jason Roe is out. They have been pretty good as big defenders," he said.
"So Daniel will slot back in there really well, and he trained well during the week, so he is ready to go."
The four-time premiership coach admitted that the Lions defensive unit was a little brittle without Merrett.
"He is our big defender, so if you haven't got your big power defender you always look a bit light on."
The Lions have looked vulnerable but Matthews said he was happy with his current defensive set-up.
"We are quite comfortable with Merrett, (Joel) Patful, (Josh) Drummond and Roe," he said.
"If we have got all them we are okay. We haven't got a whole lot of experienced back-up and that is where we are as a team right now."

 

[Grimreepah]

Link

Daniel Merrett misses match on Barry Hall
Article from: Andrew Hamilton
March 07, 2008 11:00pm

IN Matthew O'Dwyer, out Barry Hall. Daniel Merrett is the only person associated with the Brisbane Lions who isn't thrilled to hear Hall won't play.
The rampaging Sydney superstar has pulled out of today's clash in Canberra and been replaced by a rookie-listed midfielder.
Merrett has recovered from knee surgery and will take his place against the Swans. He said Hall would have given him the perfect tune-up before round 1 against West Coast.
Instead he is likely to cross paths with giant former Southport player Jesse White, who has reportedly taken big steps in the past 12 months – playing mainly as a centre half forward.
Merrett felt discomfort in his knee in late January and was diagnosed with a slight tear in the lateral meniscus.
Although not a serious injury it can be painful and the decision was made to forego the pre-season tournament to have the problem fixed.
A slightly quicker than expected recovery has given him the chance for one hitout before the season starts against West Coast at Easter.
"I thought I could have played last weekend but I needed a bit more fitness from training," Merrett said.
"I'm going to be blowing hard so I have got that to look forward too, but I feel like I should be able to play most of the game."
Merrett really only became a regular last season when he was asked to fill the big shoes left by the departure to Essendon of Mal Michael.
Before that he had managed just 25 games since joining the club in the 2002 national draft.
Last season he played all 22 and finished eighth in the club's best and fairest.
Although Merrett doesn't share the profile of superstars Jonathan Brown and Simon Black, and other topliners Jamie Charman, Luke Power and Nigel Lappin, you can bet his name would be one of the first pencilled in on the team sheet.
So important is he to Brisbane it is doubtful he is even discussed at selection meetings.
"I'm pretty lucky to find myself in the position I am in," was his modest way of describing his rise up the LIons' pecking order.
"I don't really know how to take that. It is just nice to know I react well when I'm needed in the team. It is a good feeling."

MISSED opportunity . . . Daniel Merrett is sorry Barry Hall has pulled out of today's clash at Canberra.

 

[Bobby Beecroft]

Link

It is incredible in the spce of 12 months just how important he is to our structure.

Love to know where this kick ended up.
Big Red on the left.
Scary.

 

[Grimreepah]

Merrett – stepped right in where he left off last year and added enormous stability at the back. I don’t think his man got a touch all day. O’Loughlin was carving it up in the first half but when Merrett went to him he didn’t do anything more. He matched up on Grundy and White in the first half and neither of those looked like doing anything. He did manage to drop a couple of sitters but overall you could not have asked form much more from our FB.

I know Hall wasn't playing but it's good to hear that Big Red is able to find his feet so quickly. It would have been a real problem if it took him 3 or 4 games to find form.

 

[lookagoose]

Is anybody slightly concerned on this qoute from Nigel's artcle:

"We've got a couple of guys like Daniel Merrett and Ash McGrath, and Rischitelli, who have some niggly injuries and won't start the season on time, and they're good players.

I think this has slipped under the radar a little. This will be a huge out if correct! Who would take Lynch in his absence?

 

[Grimreepah]

Lookagoose, I think that must be a faux pas on Lappin's behalf. Merrett played in the final practice game and IIRC Rischitelli did too. I'd be very surprised if Merrett wasn't there for round 1.

 

[notting18]

I think Nige might also have been refering to the fact that even though Merrett will be playing, he might not be at 100% until a few rounds in...

 

[lookagoose]

Lookagoose, I think that must be a faux pas on Lappin's behalf. Merrett played in the final practice game and IIRC Rischitelli did too. I'd be very surprised if Merrett wasn't there for round 1.

Hope you're right. I know they played in the last game, may have pulled up a little sore? Guess well find out on Thursday.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Looks like Big Red is keen to add an attacking side to his game.

Was quite good linking up out of defense tonight where he can use his athleticism and raw pace to get clear.

Also much less stressful seeing him handball than kick.

 

[konstas_87]

it was fairly obvious he was down on match fitness but i thought he still did extremely well. some of those awesome spoils were back and as TBD said, he looked a bit more confident with the ball on the way out as well which was great.

having said that if he is out for a month at any stage we will struggle to contain any sort of big forward IMO.

 

[Grimreepah]

Also much less stressful seeing him handball than kick.

Agreed. I actually think his handballing in close is quite good. He works well in traffic and is able to find good options. It's when he has to dispose of the ball longer than 10 metres that I get a little nervous.

he looked a bit more confident with the ball on the way out as well which was great.

12 disposals, 92% effective

Although I think his kicking strategy is unless a team mate is 30 metres in the clear bomb it long.

 

[chopperduck]

which i dont think is a bad strat to bomb it long. sometimes we are a lil slow at getting the ball moving from the back. did it a few times against the west coast coolers and was usually a good option, if he didn't find a target it was atleast to a decent contest. hate seeing the ball get kicked to a contest that we have no real good chance of winning. watching the fox sports replay today, and i think the commentators were right with that sometimes we just need to hang on to the ball and play with it a bit, instead of kicking it and turning it over. we have the speed with players to work someone free.

altho sometimes our disposal isn't too clean, so even doing this can turn pear shaped for us, but still might be the better option sometimes

 

[acuguy]

a mistake is better made 70m down the field then in your own 50

 

[chopperduck]

a mistake is better made 70m down the field then in your own 50

true, but they dont have to over kill it, if there is too much pressure to get away they can always kick back once get a mark and settle a bit. the problem is when the ball is kicked to such a hopeless contest its returned to our 50 in 5 seconds even if it goes 70m down field.

we've all seen what happens when you play with it too much, but we are no where near that. we gotta do something to get them moving a bit and break the lines up, free up some space and give a few ops for someone to run into the 50 and kick it home. corrie could have done this twice, drummond is great at this and notting usually loves em too. we have the players to do it, we just aren't letting them do it.

if you smack a few from 50m, maybe they wont zone off so much, make them play up a bit to pick up that lose man which only in turn frees up brown and bradshaw more. we did this very very well in some games last year....minus the bradshaw part.

 

[Grimreepah]

Link

Merrett ready to run
Author: Simon White
9:32 AM Wed 26 March, 2008

BRISBANE Lions full-back Daniel Merrett says he will have to run the “extra mile” to deny Collingwood forward Anthony Rocca goal-scoring opportunities at the Gabba on Friday night.
The quietly spoken Merrett is rapidly building an impressive record against some of the competition’s top forwards – including Rocca, who he restricted to a single goal from two clashes last year.
But he acknowledges the Pies star, who started the season with a six-goal haul against Subiaco, can present some unique issues.
“As a defender you normally try and defend that 50m arc, because that’s where teams are going to have most of their shots from,” Merrett said.
“Because of that, when some opponents go up the field, you might let them go. But you can’t do that with Rocca because of how far he kicks the ball.
“You have to stay right on his tail because he can take a mark 60m out and then do what he did on the weekend – play on and bomb them from out there.
“He’s a big guy who’s hard to move and has really strong hands. I’m looking forward to it.”
The homework Merrett must do for his clash with Rocca is reflective of the varied challenges faced by the modern-day full-back.
In round one those challenges presented themselves within the ebb-and-flow of the game, when Merrett found himself standing “resting” West Coast ruckmen Dean Cox and Mark Seaby.
Both Cox and Seaby stand more than 200cm tall.
“They are both pretty good marks and pretty good movers for ruckmen, so it was tough,” Merrett said.
“To be honest, I probably didn’t adapt all that well and my body work wasn’t great.
“It’s something I’ll work on during the week. I was a little disappointed but it’s only round one and I’ll definitely be better for it.”
In a similar vein, Merrett believes the Lions as a group will derive plenty of benefit from the first-up 16-point loss to the Eagles in Perth.
After West Coast kicked the first six goals of the game, the Lions roared back into the contest and took the lead momentarily in the third quarter.
“I think it shows that you just can’t give teams six goal head starts,” Merrett said.
“But I think it also showed a lot of courage and persistence from the group for us to come back and hit the front. I really think we had the game and if we’d taken a few of our opportunities we would have won.
“I noticed a few of the Eagles players struggling early in the last quarter – when you looked in their eyes, you could see they were really tired.
“But once they kicked a couple of goals and got a bit of momentum, those same players were suddenly running a lot harder.”

Daniel Merrett breaks away from Mark Seaby

 

[Hollow Knight]

The massive cheers that Daniel got when he won the best Defender and Most Improved Player awards at the B&F last year was the highlight of the night.

I know we recently signed him to a new contract, but in light of the Gold Coast situation, I think the club should be offering him an extension already.

I've seen enough to know that he'll hold down a key stoppers position for the next 5 years at least, so get him locked up!

 

[ZoBlitz]

His disposal skills and decision making was very good first up so that's a good start.