Recommitted Zach Merrett [UFA 2027] - Wanted a trade to Hawthorn, but it didn't get done

[Lore]

There we go, that's the clip:

 

[FootyGuru]

Is it not the same situation that happened with Essendon and Dunkley? Essendon have still managed to bring in players since, so I imagine Hawthorn will too.

Yeh very similar situation. If you have listened to Pickering, he basically said as such. Essendon asked next season and Pickering said no way.

 

[MadMaxx]

If anything also Hustwaite has the most awkward pre season return . Another 12 months at a club who has no interest in you as a footballer gotta be sad . Guys just counting down the days til next trade period so he can be up for trade again

Hehe. Nice one.

HH is a fringe player, trying to break in to a Prelim level team. Do you not reckon we didnt speak to him and his management before offering him up as part of the package?

At the dons, he would have been a starting mid.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Hehe. Nice one.

HH is a fringe player, trying to break in to a Prelim level team. Do you not reckon we didnt speak to him and his management before offering him up as part of the package?

At the dons, he would have been a starting mid.

I mean yes. You told him you wanted to move him on then didn’t … very different from a club keeping you because they want you

 

[MadMaxx]

Same thing was said about Hayward and Florent but here we are

And they obviously gave the green light.

Seriously, do you really think the players dont get a say these days? This is not 1993.

 

[Spook]

By the words of their own list manager, they didn't even bother speaking to any of their players about a possible move.

Look at the Swans, they did a deal with Hayward while the bloke was on the other side of the world. Hayward wanted to stay but was convinced to go.

Everyone except hawks fans know they botched this.

They clearly thought putting time pressure on Essendon would work. It blew up

Hayward has been trying to get to Carlton since last year.

 

[MadMaxx]

I mean yes. You told him you wanted to move him on then didn’t … very different from a club keeping you because they want you

Look. We got Barrass.. You picked the wrong box when offered...
You guys need to move on. it has been a year.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

And they obviously gave the green light.

Seriously, do you really think the players dont get a say these days? This is not 1993.

Hayward and Florent didn’t give the green light either but still moved when a package was given that they accepted…

It’s called negotiation

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Hayward has been trying to get to Carlton since last year.

I mean this is a lie but ok

 

[QuietB]

Hawthorn could have made their first bid at the start of trade week, not the end.

The fact that their first bid was with two days to go meant that Hawthorn's players were, effectively, unapproachable. No time to actually get in players' ears, draw up contracts, do a medical, have an interview etc etc.

While convincing Hawthorn players to go to Essendon may have been difficult, perhaps involving a third club via losing a first-22 player for a pair of late first round picks could have greased the wheels. But Hawthorn decided that they didn't want to break up the band, hence the very very very short runway they left.

Merrett, FWIW, is not a prisoner. If he wanted to get out badly enough, he could have nominated a club lower down the ladder with better picks.

1/ It is not Hawthorns job to decide which players Essendon wants either from Hawthorn or a third party. And it is not Hawthorns job to woo them either - Hawthorn cannot make contract offers on behalf of Essendon.
2/ everything you have raised in your post would have happened. Just because it was not broadcast live on SEN or Trade Radio does not mean it didn’t happen.
3/ it would appear - and this is my best guess - that Essendon had a room full of football people at Marvel and they did not have the authority to do anything. How the hell Hawthorn were meant to do a deal with people who are not even authorised to do a deal is anyone’s guess.

Essendon set this up to fail and that is their right. Given the board interference and stonewalling there was never any chance this deal was going to happen.

We all move on.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Hayward has been trying to get to Carlton since last year.

lol what?

He signed a 5 year extension with the swans last year rofl

 

[HeHateMe]

I don't think it reflects poorly on Hawthorn that they couldn't satisfy Essendon but it was a huge misreading of the play for them to commit their attention on this when Petracca was gettable.

Spot on, it's not the worst plan (what letter are we at now) to go younger again push our window out to when Tassie enters and compromise the draft. Either way I guess we have no choice now.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

1/ It is not Hawthorns job to decide which players Essendon wants either from Hawthorn or a third party. And it is not Hawthorns job to woo them either - Hawthorn cannot make contract offers on behalf of Essendon.
2/ everything you have raised in your post would have happened. Just because it was not broadcast live on SEN or Trade Radio does not mean it didn’t happen.
3/ it would appear - and this is my best guess - that Essendon had a room full of football people at Marvel and they did not have the authority to do anything. How the hell Hawthorn were meant to do a deal with people who are not even authorised to do a deal is anyone’s guess.

Essendon set this up to fail and that is their right. Given the board interference and stonewalling there was never any chance this deal was going to happen.

We all move on.

Merrett and Hustwaite don’t really move on…

 

[VDS66]

The finger pointing by Hawthorn fans trying to deflect from this is quite amusing. The full range of "Brad sucks", "Your board are morons" "Enjoy sucking for the next gazillion years".

I mean - yeah. We suck. Everything we do is dumb and we'll continue to suck for a long time. But comparing yourself and using us as a measuring stick for "Man, you guys botched this more than we did" is just funny.

Hawthorn are within spitting distance of being a contender. And they managed to get a club captain and one of the best mids in the game to want to come. You simply get that done. Who cares about optics, or whether it is overs or whatever. You make it happen.

The not making an offer until 24 hours before the deadline was funny.
The fake "7pm deadline" and then Hawthorn fans cheering that saying "We'll simply move onto other options" and then having no other options was even funnier.
And then Merrett's manager cracking a tantrum while Roughead and co refused to budge on a pick that will most likely be in the high 20s in 2-3 years time was the cherry on top.

Yeah we're idiots. We probably should've taken the deal, and I believe this sets us back. A missed opportunity.
But a lot of finger pointing with very little mirror looking being done by Hawthorn fans here.

100% this. Hawk fans claiming the moral victory is hilarious. Epic embarrassment for their club.

Still, that's what happens when you consume too much Koolaid.

The deflection to justify their failure in this matter is exquisite.

Well done Bombers for standing firm. Defining moment for your club IMO. The rest will follow...

 

[Bobs fathers brother]

At the end of the day hawks rightly or wrongly weren't willing/able to meet the dons' needs. Dons needed:

• Overs in the trade (hawks gave them overs)
• A clear win for the fans through either preferably a quality player who fit our timeline or a high first round pick + pick 9/10 as the foundation of the deal

The hawks weren't willing to even try talking to their quality players even though they wanted an A grader and Essendon's best player. And maybe they tried getting a high pick but ultimately piled up a bunch of middling picks and a VFL player.

So while the aggregate value may have been overs, it didn't suit dons as they wanted a clear win and already had plenty of picks in this year's draft. So Essendon walked away.

Fwiw I think Dons should have taken the deal but I can understand why they didn't. Hawks didn't do enough legwork in a trade Essendon were always going to be difficult with.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Petroro throwing his wallet on the table to me is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while

A perfect summary of the last 10 days

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

You can tell Roughead is a good dad too. He perfectly timed when to interrupt the temper tantrum and he had the perfect body language to handle it too .

What a dude

 

[T2B_]

You can tell Roughead is a good dad too. He perfectly timed when to interrupt the temper tantrum and he had the perfect body language to handle it too .

What a dude

Always loved Roughy (except when he was tearing my team apart). Great fella.

 

[Dr Tigris]

At the end of the day hawks rightly or wrongly weren't willing/able to meet the dons' needs. Dons needed:

• Overs in the trade (hawks gave them overs)
• A clear win for the fans through either preferably a quality player who fit our timeline or a high first round pick + pick 9/10 as the foundation of the deal

The hawks weren't willing to even try talking to their quality players even though they wanted an A grader and Essendon's best player. And maybe they tried getting a high pick but ultimately piled up a bunch of middling picks and a VFL player.

So while the aggregate value may have been overs, it didn't suit dons as they wanted a clear win and already had plenty of picks in this year's draft. So Essendon walked away.

Fwiw I think Dons should have taken the deal but I can understand why they didn't. Hawks didn't do enough legwork in a trade Essendon were always going to be difficult with.

All good.

But the Dons now have a (former) captain who wants to leave, and it doesn't have the draft picks to revitalise the list. Merrett's value is at its peak. It'll only drop now.

Last year the Tigers gave up a lot of good players to rapidly revitalise the list. The supporters were happy with that, because we weren't winning a premiership with he list, and this would allow us to compress multiple years of drafting into one year.

Being offered overs and not taking it because you want a 'clear win' is problematic. This is a once off situation, and opportunity to dramatically change the list. Being tough isn't as good as actually having those highly rated youngsters.

 

[Vindicater]

He was animated but my guess would be more being against Essendon. He was in Hawthorns rooms for ages after the trade didn’t go through, he wouldn’t be staying there if he was upset with how they handled it.

Or he was staying in there because that's where he was when it ended and he wanted to avoid the media.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

you know when a tradie doesn't want to do your job, instead of saying no he'll just quote $30k over the reasonable price and it's win/win - he either doesn't get the job or he does and whistles as he works.

This was that

 

[iameviljez]

It is not Hawthorns job to decide which players Essendon wants either from Hawthorn or a third party. And it is not Hawthorns job to woo them either - Hawthorn cannot make contract offers on behalf of Essendon.

Sure, but in not even putting forward an ambit claim till 48 hours before the deadline, Hawthorn set this up for failure. Things were obviously never going to move on Essendon's initiative.

 

[Vindicater]

He literally came into the Hawks room and pointed toward the Essendon rooms whilst being agitated

He was clearly peeved at Essendon, given his comments about how good of a trade offer it was and the fact he was sitting in the Hawks room post the trade period ending.

He also started that with a very aggressive point at the Hawks head of footy.

Petroro was clearly pissed at both clubs, but more so throwing a tantrum because his advice ****ed over his client and he knew it.

 

[Bobs fathers brother]

All good.

But the Dons now have a (former) captain who wants to leave, and it doesn't have the draft picks to revitalise the list. Merrett's value is at its peak. It'll only drop now.

Last year the Tigers gave up a lot of good players to rapidly revitalise the list. The supporters were happy with that, because we weren't winning a premiership with he list, and this would allow us to compress multiple years of drafting into one year.

Being offered overs and not taking it because you want a 'clear win' is problematic. This is a once off situation, and opportunity to dramatically change the list. Being tough isn't as good as actually having those highly rated youngsters.

I agree that dons should have done the trade due to Merretts value dropping. But I can understand them wanting an A grader to provide some structure on game day as opposed to gutting our list like tigers or north for the average picks on offer.

Bold take but time will tell what ends up being the better rebuild approach

 

[Bunk Moreland]

All good.

But the Dons now have a (former) captain who wants to leave, and it doesn't have the draft picks to revitalise the list. Merrett's value is at its peak. It'll only drop now.

Last year the Tigers gave up a lot of good players to rapidly revitalise the list. The supporters were happy with that, because we weren't winning a premiership with he list, and this would allow us to compress multiple years of drafting into one year.

Being offered overs and not taking it because you want a 'clear win' is problematic. This is a once off situation, and opportunity to dramatically change the list. Being tough isn't as good as actually having those highly rated youngsters.

Who says it’s overs? It’s ok if you do, but that’s just your opinion. It’s Pick 10 and 22 in what everybody agrees is a weak draft at the top end, plus Pick 17 next year. Picks were being thrown around trade week like confetti for a reason.

Merrett is a proven superstar who Essendon think has many years of very good footy to come.

You can disagree, but it’s hardly a no-brainer.

As for stockpiling picks to access the top talent, Essendon has. They have five picks inside 30 this year. They’ve traded to get them and let Draper walk (while easily having the money to match) to get the compensation.

A lot of people are fixed on two things - Merrett supposedly has zero value to Essendon, and “it’s three first rounders!!!” (when it’s picks 10, 22 and 17). Neither of which are necessarily true.

 

[jannissary]

Sure, but in not even putting forward an ambit claim till 48 hours before the deadline, Hawthorn set this up for failure. Things were obviously never going to move on Essendon's initiative.

hawks put themselves in the corner by taking their sweet old time.