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

[MiguelM]

The sad part is I could actually imagine Brad wanting him to stay on as captain

If Brad's appearance on AFL 360 was anything to go by I would say Merrett lost his trust then and there. He was ropeable!

 

[ghostdog]

Yeh his whole aura has totally changed, he used to be like this image of Essendon for better or worse, you knew whatever was going on he would say the right thing , do the right thing and actually believed he was putting the club first because he was the club...

Now it's like the first time you find out Santa isn't real... Wait what? It's just 2 normal people buying stuff from Kmart? And I know them and they live with me and have been lying about it for years??

Now I see this little man with eye bags. Wearing over fitting kids clothing, fallible. He's a sub contractor coming to fix the toilet, arm deep not because he wants to but because he has to. You just know he's going home at night bitching about it...

Wish Santa was still real

 

[ghostdog]

Honestly, I think after his media comments about being open to captain the team again, the club had a word with him.

Looks better to make the choice to step down rather than have the players vote to remove the captaincy from you.

Missed this. Any links to reports?

 

[ghostdog]

The humiliation is just about complete. Merrett will absolutely feel this, he’s a keen student of football and club history and his place in it.

It’s basically all come crashing down as a result of him putting his trust in his manager and Hawthorn to do the right thing by him.

The Emperor wears no clothes.

...unless Dryp is counted as clothes I guess. He's wearing that a lot lately. Reckon there's a lot of unsold merch.

 

[thepokey]

If Brad's appearance on AFL 360 was anything to go by I would say Merrett lost his trust then and there. He was ropeable!

He sounded more ropeable at Hawthorn/Mitchell than anything. Which, y'know, not begrudging him that

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Such a poor way for a captain to act. Confirms he’s happy mid July and six weeks later talking to oppo coach to leave. It’s like saying to the playing staff don’t think you’re good enough, the kids are no good. Quite pissweak. Wouldn’t worry as much if he wasn’t part of leadership group let alone captain.

 

[MiguelM]

Such a poor way for a captain to act. Confirms he’s happy mid July and six weeks later talking to oppo coach to leave. It’s like saying to the playing staff don’t think you’re good enough, the kids are no good. Quite pissweak. Wouldn’t worry as much if he wasn’t part of leadership group let alone captain.

And it is not the first time he has explored options.

Will be interesting to see how the players respond to McGrath (likely capt). There were times McGrath really encouraged the young players on the field where as Merrett was sometimes dirty if they made an error. Maybe players were subconsciously holding back for fear of being scolded.

Note: this is just an observation from afar. Could be totally wrong.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Missed this. Any links to reports?

 

[Howard Moon]

Not sure if Ive seen it mentioned but who do you think approached who for the great Dingley dinner?

 

[doug85]

View attachment 2486006

“Keeping in mind, I already explained about the hair”

 

[MarkJohnson#1]

There’s just something not genuine about this bloke that I can’t look past anymore. I guess his on field performance over the years gave him a free ride from any form of criticism.

The lies and deceit really have left a sour taste in my mouth and I now see he wasn’t the leader we hoped for. I think a better man will step up and be right for the role and in the process start to fill the void in culture that we have been starved from for so long.

 

[Old man fletch]

There’s just something not genuine about this bloke that I can’t look past anymore. I guess his on field performance over the years gave him a free ride from any form of criticism.

The lies and deceit really have left a sour taste in my mouth and I now see he wasn’t the leader we hoped for. I think a better man will step up and be right for the role and in the process start to fill the void in culture that we have been starved from for so long.

Yep, no contrition at all from him about the whole episode. Everything from his camp seems like its run from a PR firm.

When he was dropped from the leadership group and eventually became captain it seemed at the time that he had grown his EQ and his subsequent lack of engagement with the players in his captaincy years seemed like it was an issue with them not buying into the culture he was trying to drive. Hindsight says it was probably he learned how to fake empathy with his teammates. When all you hear from your captain as a fan is soundbites, its easy to sell the lie. When you're around the captain as a team mate day in day out for the year, it's a lot easier to spot a phony

 

[doug85]

Yep, no contrition at all from him about the whole episode. Everything from his camp seems like its run from a PR firm.

When he was dropped from the leadership group and eventually became captain it seemed at the time that he had grown his EQ and his subsequent lack of engagement with the players in his captaincy years seemed like it was an issue with them not buying into the culture he was trying to drive. Hindsight says it was probably he learned how to fake empathy with his teammates. When all you hear from your captain as a fan is soundbites, its easy to sell the lie. When you're around the captain as a team mate day in day out for the year, it's a lot easier to spot a phony

Why does he need to be contrite? What has he done wrong?

 

[thepokey]

Brad Scott in the video from today's captaincy relinquishing: "When we watch Jr play ... I use him as an example on a regular basis for what we want an Essendon player to look like on field. No one embodies the Essendon culture on field better than Jr".

I love that he twice specified "on field", he's not wrong, but its telling.

 

[Old man fletch]

Why does he need to be contrite? What has he done wrong?

It comes down to integrity as a leader

If you're the captain of the club, you're the leader. If you choose to try to leave the club and don't succeed, you need to realize there will be consequences. All great players have massive egos. The truly great leaders are the ones who created genuine connections with their teammates that would go to war for them and importantly can find an extra something at 3 qtr time when a captain calls on them to lift. Hodge vs Mitchell. The hawks were a great team but the team selected Hodge as the coach not because he was eloquent (he botched speeches during games on the regular from what his teammates said), but because they believed in him and felt his passion was genuine.

To answer your question, it's not a matter of what he's done wrong, it's a matter of what his teammates think of him and whether they feel betrayed. If Zach wants to try to preserve his image/legacy instead of mending bridges, so be it. It's going to be a long lonely year for him, with the rest of the team ostracizing him.

The club has shown it is willing to keep him if they don't get what they want for him, so he's not guaranteed to leave the club at the end of next year.

 

[Duckworth]

It comes down to integrity as a leader

If you're the captain of the club, you're the leader. If you choose to try to leave the club and don't succeed, you need to realize there will be consequences. All great players have massive egos. The truly great leaders are the ones who created genuine connections with their teammates that would go to war for them and importantly can find an extra something at 3 qtr time when a captain calls on them to lift. Hodge vs Mitchell. The hawks were a great team but the team selected Hodge as the coach not because he was eloquent (he botched speeches during games on the regular from what his teammates said), but because they believed in him and felt his passion was genuine.

To answer your question, it's not a matter of what he's done wrong, it's a matter of what his teammates think of him and whether they feel betrayed. If Zach wants to try to preserve his image/legacy instead of mending bridges, so be it. It's going to be a long lonely year for him, with the rest of the team ostracizing him.

The club has shown it is willing to keep him if they don't get what they want for him, so he's not guaranteed to leave the club at the end of next year.

I think the players have accepted him back. The supporters not so much - that will change too once he kicks a few goals.

 

[doug85]

It comes down to integrity as a leader

If you're the captain of the club, you're the leader. If you choose to try to leave the club and don't succeed, you need to realize there will be consequences. All great players have massive egos. The truly great leaders are the ones who created genuine connections with their teammates that would go to war for them and importantly can find an extra something at 3 qtr time when a captain calls on them to lift. Hodge vs Mitchell. The hawks were a great team but the team selected Hodge as the coach not because he was eloquent (he botched speeches during games on the regular from what his teammates said), but because they believed in him and felt his passion was genuine.

To answer your question, it's not a matter of what he's done wrong, it's a matter of what his teammates think of him and whether they feel betrayed. If Zach wants to try to preserve his image/legacy instead of mending bridges, so be it. It's going to be a long lonely year for him, with the rest of the team ostracizing him.

The club has shown it is willing to keep him if they don't get what they want for him, so he's not guaranteed to leave the club at the end of next year.

This is just word salad and doesn’t answer the question.

He didn’t break any rules, there’s no need to apologise.

 

[Old man fletch]

This is just word salad and doesn’t answer the question.

He didn’t break any rules, there’s no need to apologise.

I'll simplify it. If he wants to be isolated in the club, he's going about it the right way.

Not a judgement call on whether he needs to apologize or not, just an observation. Personally I don't care. A lot of the guys he's going to spend the next year with will though.

If Scott is a legitimate premiership level coach, he'll identify that merrett isn't going to be part of the next flag tilt and use this to galvanize the playing group. Lots of premiership coaches use us against them to bring the playing group together (Clarko and Beverage of recent years come to mind).

 

[Orfullrules]

Hopefully Zach puts time into the young blokes. Maybe stressing player management as point one.

 

[Lore]

Is it worth watching the press conference or the address to the players when he stepped down?

I haven’t, and I don’t really feel like I want to right now but if there’s something worth seeing in there then maybe I will… probably just platitudes at this point I suppose, and words are cheap.

 

[Mr Bultitude]

This is just word salad and doesn’t answer the question.

He didn’t break any rules, there’s no need to apologise.

True, he didn’t, but he broke trust.

 

[VelvetSledge]

View attachment 2486109
“Keeping in mind, I already explained about the hair”

10/10, no notes

 

[Vindicater]

Is it worth watching the press conference or the address to the players when he stepped down?

I haven’t, and I don’t really feel like I want to right now but if there’s something worth seeing in there then maybe I will… probably just platitudes at this point I suppose, and words are cheap.

I did not watch the press conference but the address to the players was all a little bit meh. Kind of felt like everybody going through the motions.

 

[SydneyBomber]

To be honest, he lost me at Lamborghini.
Anyone who drives one of those has to be a bit of a ****wit.

Great player though, and sad to see how this has all panned out. Just no EQ at all.

 

[thepokey]

Is it worth watching the press conference or the address to the players when he stepped down?

I haven’t, and I don’t really feel like I want to right now but if there’s something worth seeing in there then maybe I will… probably just platitudes at this point I suppose, and words are cheap.

Watching his address to the players is worth it to try and work out what the hell he says in the first 5 seconds. It's like he is speaking in tongues (cursing them?)