AFL Player 7: Indefatigable Zach Merrett

[Kyptastic]

The Zach Merrett Trade - the case For and Against

Should Essendon Trade Zach Merrett?

The next few weeks of the Trade period are going to be dominated with talk of Zach Merrett, how hard he is pushing for a trade.

www.donthestat.com

 

[Koopa]

Looks like a man with a gun at his back.

Standard yada yada/rah rah speech, obvious that physically he was present but the mind was elsewhere.

The first big test of Welsh's presidency, let the games begin!

 

[thepokey]

Sure, but Zach doesn't want to go to clubs with good picks, also the closer we get to the Tassie draft the worse the future picks get.

Then he can stay put, can't want out that badly then

 

[ydc55]

Zac’s speech sums him up perfectly.
Self centred, ultra professional who is tunnel visioned about himself.
He is not well spoken and is not a selfless leader like td or bomber were.
I am happy for him to leave for two first rounders or even a first rounder, Zane Duursma and McKenzie to give us some players who have high ceilings and are ready to play and develop with our young group.

 

[schmuttt]

With Petracca nominating Suns, Crows will be desperate for a gun midfielder.

Their midfield cost them dearly in the finals.

Crows weren't going to satisfy us in a deal for Trac, let alone you guys with Merret.

 

[MPMonkeys]

Zac’s speech sums him up perfectly.
Self centred, ultra professional who is tunnel visioned about himself.
He is not well spoken and is not a selfless leader like td or bomber were.
I am happy for him to leave for two first rounders or even a first rounder, Zane Duursma and McKenzie to give us some players who have high ceilings and are ready to play and develop with our young group.

Lets be specific about 'first rounders. If its picks 1-5 then yes, if its picks 6-10 then maybe but we want a player as well. If its picks 11-15 then maybe however need 2 players. If its picks 16+ then its just a firm no. And when I refer to pick numbers its the pick after all NGA's, Father Sons, Compensation picks have been taken into consideration.

Players involved must be proven players of good quality. As an example.
Marshall (SK), McCreery (Coll), West (WB), Ainsworth (GC), Keays (Adel) - players of that ilk.

Must be kidding wanting Duursma and McKenzie. They're not even best 22 at their current clubs.

 

[eth-dog]

Crows weren't going to satisfy us in a deal for Trac, let alone you guys with Merret.

Doesn't need to satisfy us if they drive the price up.

 

[MPMonkeys]

Are there any examples of a top 10 pick who couldn't make it at his original club but who then went on to be a legitimate A or B grader at his new club?
The only one I can think of in the last 10 years is Scrimshaw.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Are there any examples of a top 10 pick who couldn't make it at his original club but who then went on to be a legitimate A or B grader at his new club?
The only one I can think of in the last 10 years is Scrimshaw.

Wasn’t D’Ambrosio top 10 in the mid season draft?

 

[Old Campaigner]

say what you will about Cornes but he's been pretty supportive of us all year, hasnt just stuck the boot in like most journos.

He’s a contrarian to the bone

 

[joey_jo_jo]

He’s a contrarian to the bone

in some ways its refreshing because theres so much group think amongst all the AFL journos. in other instances its tedious. At least hes open about his desire to be an NBA media style clickbait king unlike the others though.

 

[MiguelM]

Crows weren't going to satisfy us in a deal for Trac, let alone you guys with Merret.

True, lets see how desperate they become in the heat of the moment!

 

[Lads23]

Zach talking about team success but also wanted us to keep his best mates Laverde, Hind and Stringer at the club. Makes no sense at all.

Gee round 1 is going to be spicy next year if Merret gets traded to Hawks and we get Hinkley as a senior assistant coach.

What I want to see:

• Durham go head to head against Merret.
• Fights breaking out before the ball is bounced
• Hinkley gets lippy with Ginivin and Sam Mitchell (f*** it we pay whatever the fine he gets)

That would make me happy

 

[windyhill]

Crows weren't going to satisfy us in a deal for Trac, let alone you guys with Merret.

He'd be perfect for Adelaide. Try harder Crows.

 

[Lore]

Haha so he's talking up Gia in his speech, Gia isn't there, now Gia is going to Hawthorn.

Did Gia poach our captain, or did our captain poach our midfield coach?

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Merrett and now Gia. It seems Hawks going all in on sloppy seconds.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I think the thing the media automatically jumps to, as do a lot of people, is "he's done, he's gone nuclear, he can't walk back into that football club"

Which, in he cold light of day, isn't the truth. Sure, it's not ideal, but anybody who actually suggests he wouldn't go back and give 100% as one of the best mids in the league next year is kidding.

What I'm getting at is Merrett does have value for Essendon going forward. He's a very, very, very good player who has a lot of footy left. These sort of things happen and, in time, largely get forgotten about. Teammates don't hold grudges.

He's got value and if Hawthorn want him, they'll need to meet that value. Otherwise he'll remain at Essendon. It's clearly a live option as Scott went out of his way last night to reach out to him publicly and start the process of bringing him back - if that's required.

 

[thepokey]

Yeah I wonder now how long Gia has been in Zach's ear, maybe sometime after Zach's "all in" on 360. "I'm teeing up a move to Hawthorn, wanna come with?" Certainly makes the whole Zach wanting Hawthorn and no one else make a lot more sense

 

[MPMonkeys]

Wasn't Gia linked to the Melbourne job before Merrett met with Mitchell.
Sounds like he missed on the Melbourne job and so Hawthorn then approached him. Collingwood was after him as well.

People are reading too much into this.

 

[thepokey]

Wasn't Gia linked to the Melbourne job before Merrett met with Mitchell.
Sounds like he missed on the Melbourne job and so Hawthorn then approached him. Collingwood was after him as well.

People are reading too much into this.

I think it's pretty understood that if a top job becomes vacant you go for it and most clubs don't begrudge assistants having a crack. Could have just as easily tee'd it up with Hawthorn on the understanding that things would change if he got the Melbourne role.

Maybe reading too much into it, but just as easily it could be naive to always think everything is face value. But yeah I mean it's just speculation

 

[Lore]

The Zach Merrett Trade - the case For and Against

Should Essendon Trade Zach Merrett?

The next few weeks of the Trade period are going to be dominated with talk of Zach Merrett, how hard he is pushing for a trade.

www.donthestat.com

This part:

Zach certainly has a lot of great qualities as a leader and captain. He sets training and preparation standards better than anyone at the club. He sets the standards on field every game and works as hard defensively as offensively. In a different team, one that was at the pointy end of the competition, Zach would be a perfect captain. However, our circumstances are very different. We are a young, developing squad that neds a lot of direct onfild leadership to aid it in its development. For all his good qualities, I’m not sure Zach is the type of captain that will work best with this type of group. Zach has spoken about how his captaincy this year, with the amount of young players that had to be integrated into the team, had to shift from focusing on performance to focusing on support, which seemed like a challenge for him. Compare this audio of Zach Mic’ed up in game in 2023 to the way that Andy McGrath interacted with his young teammates when he took the reins in 2025 against St Kilda. A change in leadership styles could be of benefit for our young squad andh help accelerate our growth.

Listening to those two clips is fascinating... I listened to Andy's whole thing, and although Zach's is longer I found myself jumping forward every twenty seconds or so to see if he did anything interesting beyond yelling 'Kickkickickick' and eventually turned it off halfway through Perhaps it's part editing, but there's definitely a stark difference.

 

[MiguelM]

If you can walk into a room, stand on a stage and dribble on for 5 minutes. You can walk into a preseason training session, sit in a corner and sulk if you like but nothing has changed, you are still paid and you don't want to damage your brand. It's incumbent on the hawks to now pony up to get him across or they can try again in 12 months whilst still contracted. Zac has always been about Zac and maybe just maybe Zac doesn't get what Zac wants this time and im ok with that.......

Part of me is ok with that too but I think this position will put the club back further.

We tried to keep Daniher and it was a disaster we didn't recover from for a year or two. Look at the Dees too, in hindsight should have let Petracca and Oliver go last year. They wasted so much energy to keep for nothing.

If the offer is reasonable, and Hawks know it will need to be, let him go.

Listening to his speech last night it is clear he is done with the club. No point plolonging the inevitable IMO.

 

[Unfazed]

This part:

Zach certainly has a lot of great qualities as a leader and captain. He sets training and preparation standards better than anyone at the club. He sets the standards on field every game and works as hard defensively as offensively. In a different team, one that was at the pointy end of the competition, Zach would be a perfect captain. However, our circumstances are very different. We are a young, developing squad that neds a lot of direct onfild leadership to aid it in its development. For all his good qualities, I’m not sure Zach is the type of captain that will work best with this type of group. Zach has spoken about how his captaincy this year, with the amount of young players that had to be integrated into the team, had to shift from focusing on performance to focusing on support, which seemed like a challenge for him. Compare this audio of Zach Mic’ed up in game in 2023 to the way that Andy McGrath interacted with his young teammates when he took the reins in 2025 against St Kilda. A change in leadership styles could be of benefit for our young squad andh help accelerate our growth.

Listening to those two clips is fascinating... I listened to Andy's whole thing, and although Zach's is longer I found myself jumping forward every twenty seconds or so to see if he did anything interesting beyond yelling 'Kickkickickick' and eventually turned it off halfway through Perhaps it's part editing, but there's definitely a stark difference.

That was quite illuminating. McGrath could be a great leader for our younger guys. And they seem to love him.

 

[MiguelM]

That was quite illuminating. McGrath could be a great leader for our younger guys. And they seem to love him.

I actually wonder with Zach being so focussed/driven if that subconsciously held the players back in that they were fearful of making mistakes. Saw a few times he berrated players on the field.

I have lived this in the workplace where it sucks the life out of everyone and becomes toxic very quickly.

all work and no play makes jack a dull boy!

 

[MiguelM]

Is there a deadline for Zach to nominate for trade?