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

[Lore]

There we go, that's the clip:

 

[Yoda_]

Break the Merrett picks down and it's shit. (hypothetical Hawks finish 4th in 2026 and 2027)

Pick 10 is neat and all (1,276 draft points)
pick 22 (686 draft points)

2026 first likely to be around pick 17 (879 draft points)
+ Henry Hustwaite (worth nothing)

Zac Merrett
2026 third rounder (what, likely pick 50? 71 draft points)
= 2,770 DVI (pick 2 & pick 38)


now go over what we apparently requested,

pick 10 (1,276 DVI)
pick 22 (686 DVI)

2026 first (circa 879 DVI)
2026 second (circa 277 DVI)

2027 first (circa pick 25, 590)
=3,118 DVI (pick 1 & pick 47)


Soo, its not really the godfather offer Hawks supporters want to make it out to be


Petracca just went for
pick 7 (1,543 DVI)
pick 8 (1,443 DVI)
pick 37 (297 DVI)
2026 first (likely pick 15, circa (973 DVI)

For Petracca + 24 (621 DVI) & 28 (505 DVI)
= 3130, pick 1 & pick 47



So maybe, just maybe, the deal for a contracted captain we didn't want to move on was actually reasonable. Argue all you want, the play was all in now. Merrett moves the needle. Hawks tried to low ball and blow the joint up. It didn't work.

 

[Yoda_]

Which is great. He’ll be a free agent by the time they come in though. So Essendon would get dark all. Another win for the property developer from Broadmeadows.

to be honest, the play if ever it came to it and Merrett left at the end of his contract would be well wishes and we tried and failed and frankly dont even deserve a compensation pick.

 

[JasRulz63]

Pretty sure you don't recruit band 1 free agents for depth.

Allen will be the #1 key forward for the Lions next year. Gallop was impressive late but has only played 6 games.

Last year when Allen came back he kicked 19 goals in 10 games while Jake Waterman kicked 20. In his younger days he kicked 28 alongside Kennedy and Darling each kicking 40+. He's a pretty versatile player having been a third/fourth option, then the only option, and then sharing the forward line again. Allen and Morris could easily kick 40-50 goals each with Gallop playing 10-20 games. Hipwood kinda sucks TBH. If he was capable of being a 50 goal a year forward Allen would be elsewhere.

Allen will most definitely be in Brisbane's best 23. Fagan likes playing with the three tall forwards. Sam Day played 13 games this year, including playing out the year with a broken wrist. In the finals, we played McInerney as a marking forward. Allen is a significant upgrade on these two.

Hipwood will be interesting when he comes back mid year in terms of where he fits in. Despite his height, he plays like a tall flanker that works up hard to the wings to present an option.

 

[hawkman]

If Hawthorn with a top 10 pick this year and all their picks in the next two years dont have the capital in their list to package something up to get Essendon what they want, then they shouldn't be trading for Merrett anyhow and should be focussed on the draft and/or free agents.

Merrett now finds himself in an awkward situation because a bunch of cowboys sold him a promise.

Merrett looking for a way out suggests that there are still underlying issues between him and the club.
The deal not going through makes it awkward but if Essendon ignore that they have an unhappy senior player and the issues he has just because they kept him then they aren't a serious organisation

 

[Lore]

Merrett looking for a way out suggests that there are still underlying issues between him and the club.
The deal not going through makes it awkward but if Essendon ignore that they have an unhappy senior player and the issues he has just because they kept him then they aren't a serious organisation

If he can’t find a way to play good football at Essendon next year then he’s not all that serious about being a professional athlete and you dodged a bullet anyway.

 

[hawkman]

once decent injury is all it takes

the good thing is zach has a good record i guess

Agreed but that still doesn't mean everything. We had Birchall who barely missed a game until he was 29 and then could barely get on the park for the next 3 years before he finished with a couple of years at Brisbane.

 

[hawkman]

If he can’t find a way to play good football at Essendon next year then he’s not all that serious about being a professional athlete and you dodged a bullet anyway.

Absolutely true also

 

[H00t]

Essendon can trade him for picks to Tasmsnia in 2028 and he can be captain.
People are forgetting about Tasmania.

No they can’t. He’s going to be an UFA and can go where he likes

 

[Aristotle Pickett the3rd]

No they can’t. He’s going to be an UFA and can go where he likes

Ok but he might sign an extension.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Is the end game of this Essendon finishing above Hawthorn in 2026.

Far out I wanna see it

 

[H00t]

Break the Merrett picks down and it's shit. (hypothetical Hawks finish 4th in 2026 and 2027)

Pick 10 is neat and all (1,276 draft points)
pick 22 (686 draft points)

2026 first likely to be around pick 17 (879 draft points)
+ Henry Hustwaite (worth nothing)

Zac Merrett
2026 third rounder (what, likely pick 50? 71 draft points)
= 2,770 DVI (pick 2 & pick 38)


now go over what we apparently requested,

pick 10 (1,276 DVI)
pick 22 (686 DVI)

2026 first (circa 879 DVI)
2026 second (circa 277 DVI)

2027 first (circa pick 25, 590)
=3,118 DVI (pick 1 & pick 47)


Soo, its not really the godfather offer Hawks supporters want to make it out to be


Petracca just went for
pick 7 (1,543 DVI)
pick 8 (1,443 DVI)
pick 37 (297 DVI)
2026 first (likely pick 15, circa (973 DVI)

For Petracca + 24 (621 DVI) & 28 (505 DVI)
= 3130, pick 1 & pick 47



So maybe, just maybe, the deal for a contracted captain we didn't want to move on was actually reasonable. Argue all you want, the play was all in now. Merrett moves the needle. Hawks tried to low ball and blow the joint up. It didn't work.

You left out a future second going to Melbourne which will be a very early one.

Which I’m pretty sure pushes that trades DVI below our 3 first offer.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

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.

He was just mad at the world.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

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

Doubt he would’ve stayed in there if he was “so mad at them”. Either or, he’s just disappointed his client didn’t get their wish, and so he’s upset at both Essendon and Hawthorn.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

I’m taking the Bombers young core over that Hawks young core you just listed.

You’re clueless

 

[Dewyyyyy]

I wonder if Hawks realise the FF1 is the Tassie draft?

If that was the sticking point, give yourselves an uppercut.

Another first in 2027 but also a second 26/27.

It was way too much.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

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

Eating food and dealing with tantrums

 

[Dewyyyyy]

+ the fact they played a silly tactic game trying to put pressure on us via making very late offers, put it blew up completely.

Jake Niall summed it up perfectly this morning on his podcast.

Hawthorn were very hypocritical in that they were willing to put pressure on another playing list to get a good player in, but weren't happy to do it to their own list to get a good player out.

That is where the hawks failed.

I’ll say it once but no team is getting rid of a quality player to get in another quality player. That defeats the purpose.

Players who seek more opportunities, different environment etc sure, but there’s a reason there is never, or rarely, a quality best 22 player traded for another.

Draft picks are the currency.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

will be 7 x BNF next year - and STILL contracted probably more expensive!

start warming up Cam MacKenzie, and someone else.

Don't blow it next time

He will not be worth the same let alone more, be so fr

 

[George Zip]

Enough is enough. Essendon people revising history and scapegoating Hawthorn for its own failings and deficiencies has to stop.

Merrett wanted out and wanted to come to Hawthorn. We tried to facilitate his defection, then Welsh was elected president, lost control of his ego, and made it impossible for Merrett to defect.

Merrett begged to be released, and out of respect and sympathy for Merrett, Hawthorn upheld its end of the bargain and tabled two offers, one of which was unprecedented for a 30 year-old player, knowing full-well that Welsh’s rampant ego, combined with sustained mental and cultural damage caused by years of mediocrity and a shameful doping scandal, would preclude Merrett’s escape.

That is the truth of it, and to suggest otherwise is to deny reality, something Essendon people have had to become adept at in order to survive the last 25 years.

Merrett’s desire to defect provided an opportunity for the club to improve much sooner than it could have with Merrett still donning the sash. Merrett knew this. But, in the end, he was strong-armed into staying, guaranteeing Essendon another ten years of misery and denying Merrett the opportunity to taste real success somewhere else.

Tragic.

 

[fnerd]

He will not be worth the same let alone more, be so fr

Oh I do t know about that - a lot of so called “experts” were saying the same thing about Melbourne and petracca last yr….. fast fwd 12 months and they still got 3 first for him - oh and not the type of firsts that the hoks spruik but actual top 10 firsts.

Face it buddy the hoks tried being hero’s this trade period but ended up chumps

 

[Dewyyyyy]

The real question is Wtf were hawthorn doing between the meeting with Zach and Mitchell 6 weeks ago and the day before trade period ended?

Sounds like sweet **** all

Sounds like me doing a university assignment

Procrastinating hoping it gets done than relying on ChatGPT to get you a good but not great product?

 

[Dewyyyyy]

Break the Merrett picks down and it's shit. (hypothetical Hawks finish 4th in 2026 and 2027)

Pick 10 is neat and all (1,276 draft points)
pick 22 (686 draft points)

2026 first likely to be around pick 17 (879 draft points)
+ Henry Hustwaite (worth nothing)

Zac Merrett
2026 third rounder (what, likely pick 50? 71 draft points)
= 2,770 DVI (pick 2 & pick 38)


now go over what we apparently requested,

pick 10 (1,276 DVI)
pick 22 (686 DVI)

2026 first (circa 879 DVI)
2026 second (circa 277 DVI)

2027 first (circa pick 25, 590)
=3,118 DVI (pick 1 & pick 47)


Soo, its not really the godfather offer Hawks supporters want to make it out to be


Petracca just went for
pick 7 (1,543 DVI)
pick 8 (1,443 DVI)
pick 37 (297 DVI)
2026 first (likely pick 15, circa (973 DVI)

For Petracca + 24 (621 DVI) & 28 (505 DVI)
= 3130, pick 1 & pick 47



So maybe, just maybe, the deal for a contracted captain we didn't want to move on was actually reasonable. Argue all you want, the play was all in now. Merrett moves the needle. Hawks tried to low ball and blow the joint up. It didn't work.

just to fix it, Petracca and three seconds. Not two.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

Oh I do t know about that - a lot of so called “experts” were saying the same thing about Melbourne and petracca last yr….. fast fwd 12 months and they still got 3 first for him - oh and not the type of firsts that the hoks spruik but actual top 10 firsts.

Face it buddy the hoks tried being hero’s this trade period but ended up chumps

I can’t even read this

No chance is Merrett who will be a year older, a year closer to being a free agent etc, going to be worth anymore than he was this year. He won’t lose heaps of value but he definitely isn’t worth the trade Hawthorn offered or Essendon requested this year, this time next year.

 

[boncer34]

It’s pick 10, 22 and 14-18.

Hodge was 30 in 2016.

He was obviously no where near his best post three peat.

Imagine 3 firsts were offered for him then.

He then retired and went to Brisbane in 2018-19.

The other analogy is what Hawthorn do if the shoe was on the other foot.

If Sicily wanted out and Hawthorn had been poor, with an offer of 3 firsts and an emerging fringe player, I’d take it.

Just to be clear.

The Luke Hodge born in 1984 was 30 in 2016?

 

[FootyGuru]

Just to be clear.

The Luke Hodge born in 1984 was 30 in 2016?

Ask him to fall on his sword. . Been too many times this trade period