AFL Player 7: Indefatigable Zach Merrett - Stepping down as captain for 2026

[Lore]

He texted Barrett on air and told him that we asked for 4 first round picks, the final pick being that FF1.

in that draft where Tassie have like 10 picks, so their FF1 is likely to be about pick 30 before compensation or bid matching or anything else

 

[Old Campaigner]

Rosa missed an opportunity there. Reporters asked about Merrett not wanting to be at the club. The reply should have been "Merrett wanted to join Hawthorn more but doesn't necessarily not want to be at Essendon"

What I think he should have said is that if the horks want to approach contracted players then they need to be prepared to stump up a very compelling deal for them, and warn other players from dealing with them as they might get cold feet and hang you out to dry

 

[Howard Moon]

He texted Barrett on air and told him that we asked for 4 first round picks, the final pick being that FF1.

Not saying the request was nonsense, I'm saying we never really expected it to happen, we just kept raising the price to a point they wouldn't or couldn't match so we had our justification to hold

 

[BratPack]

Yeah, people with your attitude at the club have really worked well for us the last 20 years.

And comments like this just galvanize my original statement

 

[BrunoV]

in that draft where Tassie have like 10 picks, so their FF1 is likely to be about pick 30 before compensation or bid matching or anything else

That's why I said it sounded dumb enough to be real / Essendon.

 

[Old Campaigner]

in that draft where Tassie have like 10 picks, so their FF1 is likely to be about pick 30 before compensation or bid matching or anything else

Seems a weird thing to knock back a deal over, the optics of 4 1st round pics would have been pretty good for us even if the actual value isn't much.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The main thing about this that gives me a bit more comfort is I do have some confidence in Rosa.

We wouldn’t have traded Stringer for nothing before.

We wouldn’t have let Draper walk before - we would’ve offered stupid overs to keep him.

Nothing he has done before suggests he’s anything but a pragmatic operator.

 

[nipst@r]

Time to get behind him.

Feels a bit too emotive and purely a welsh move for me but also felt petracca and curnow deals were better than what we got offered anyway so we move on.

Hope some players put out the olive branch now. Long time before round 1. Hope he is well supported round 1.

 

[Howard Moon]

Wonder who Sam's having over for tea next, the strike rate is slipping

 

[SpeckieMcVeigh]

The deal fell through over a FF1 (i.e. a 2027 first round pick) according to Petroro.

It sounds dumb enough to be credited to Essendon.

We need an extra first that year to guarantee we get Bewick under the new rules. You saw the price that the other two big names fetched on the market. Why should we bend over for unders?

 

[Blind Turn]

I'd just be more than a bit concerned we end up in a worse position next trade period and regret not taking what was on offer

Lines in the sand come in many metaphorical guises. We can’t bother with regrets. The choices have been made. It’s now about how we define those choices going forward. If we somehow mend the rift, we make forward strides next year, and Zach decides to see the journey through, we all know there’d be no regrets. It’s about building momentum from this but there’s obviously a major mending to take place first.

 

[emblurr]

 

[nipst@r]

The main thing about this that gives me a bit more comfort is I do have some confidence in Rosa.

We wouldn’t have traded Stringer for nothing before.

We wouldn’t have let Draper walk before - we would’ve offered stupid overs to keep him.

Nothing he has done before suggests he’s anything but a pragmatic operator.

I have zero concerns on rosa. Welsh making the decisions I have serious concerns with.

 

[Zach Package]

 

[thebigboy]

The deal being, on paper, 3 firsts is fine, but when those picks end up being 3 in the 12-25 range at best, it’s not that good of a deal that it’s a no brainer that we take it. Simple as that.

If the Hawks were genuine about getting him at all costs, they’d have brought in other clubs with picks to facilitate it. Maybe they tried and it didn’t happen, who knows, but they could have made the offer better than 3 pretty average picks that are first rounders in name only.

Will it be awkward, probably. Maybe he leaves next year, maybe he walks in 2027 as a FA, but the call to hold him is easily defended

 

[BombersDave]

Just when you think we can't mess things we say hold my beer and we show what we really can do. A captain - the guy who's meant to provide the way forward to the players especially the young ones, basically said you're not good enough to give me success in the 6 remaining years I have that I want out and now we kept him and expect the players are going to have trust in him. Honestly, pick 10, 22 and a future first was pretty good given what we'll get offered next year. Could have taken the deal and tried to use the picks to get higher up etc or just use the picks, I mean 22 is such a terrible pick that we forget the great players we've taken over the last 5 years with picks in the top 10 (yes, sarcastic) and dismiss that we got Zac with picks 26. Muppets!!

 

[iDon]

I have no issue with us keeping him. He is a great player and he is also entitled to chase success if he thinks thats best.

But the way that the Hawks carried on, just expecting him to go to them is my issue. They kept throwing unders at us, they had Tom "Bin" Morris in their corner and obviously Merretts manager creating this massive media attack. We shouldnt have to settle for unders, we did the right thing, we knew his market value and stuck to our guns. I like that about Welsh, Rosa. Bit of back bone.

yeah it may come back to bite us in the immediate future but really what is three end of round 1 draft pics oging to do for Ess? sweet FA.

Welcome back Zac. Never doubted you.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Lines in the sand come in many metaphorical guises. We can’t bother with regrets. The choices have been made. It’s now about how we define those choices going forward. If we somehow mend the rift, we make forward strides next year, and Zach decides to see the journey through, we all know there’d be no regrets. It’s about building momentum from this but there’s obviously a major mending to take place first.

This is true, and Rosa does seem like a pretty sensible operator so I don't think what we did was particularly reckless.

 

[Phone]

3 X 1sts with something going back a la the Curnow and Petracca deals was about right but the Hawks didn't pony up

Cats and Hawks haven't got better = Suns v Lions GF next year?

I mean we possibly asked for a 2nd round pick too from them too. It doesn't seem like we were interested in sending anything back over to them at all. So the bolded is probably on us until we hear more

 

[BomberTime]

All this talk about we will get less for him next year to the Hawks.

1. He’s still contracted for a further year.
2. He could turn things around at the club.
3. Other clubs will come sniffing now that they know he is gettable. He may be more open to a trade elsewhere and we can get a market. He also might not trust the Hawks to get the deal done.

A year is a long time in footy. Think the club did the right thing in not trading a superstar captain for that deal. The deal was probably ‘fair’. But that’s not what Bombers wanted… they wanted a return so far in our favour. Which didn’t happen. The Hawks ****ed this one up by selling him but not coming through.

 

[fairbump_playon]

That's not entirely true. He signed the deal with the idea the club would be moving up the ladder and the club realised the list was shit and changed course.

It’s football though

Are we going to have clauses in contracts that invalidate them if a club doesn’t perform above a certain level?

 

[Old Campaigner]

yeah it may come back to bite us in the immediate future but really what is three end of round 1 draft pics oging to do for Ess? sweet FA.

I'd have thought that three extra cracks at the top 25 kids in the country ahead of the Tassie drafts would have been a pretty good reason to get the deal done.

 

[Phone]

All this talk about we will get less for him next year to the Hawks.

1. He’s still contracted for a further year.
2. He could turn things around at the club.
3. Other clubs will come sniffing now that they know he is gettable. He may be more open to a trade elsewhere and we can get a market. He also might not trust the Hawks to get the deal done.

A year is a long time in footy. Think the club did the right thing in not trading a superstar captain for that deal. The deal was probably ‘fair’. But that’s not what Bombers wanted… they wanted a return so far in our favour. Which didn’t happen. The Hawks ****ed this one up by selling him but not coming through.

Clubs have known he is gettable for years lmao. it's why he turned a St Kilda offer into a big pay raise.

 

[Old Campaigner]

It’s football though

Are we going to have clauses in contracts that invalidate them if a club doesn’t perform above a certain level?

Well players often have performance triggers...

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Umm...look, honestly, I was ambivalent about the price we were offering. But on what planet do you think you're getting a good price for him next year? A fourth 1st rounder would have been forthcoming for a player in his mid-20s perhaps. 31 year old is quite another story.

Don't really care. Mitchell can EAD. ******** of the highest order.