Retired Daniel Merrett (2002-2016)

[Dylan12]

Full-back Daniel Merrett said the players were letting the Lions down, not Voss.

"We're here to do a job. He's our coach and what's let us down is our performances as players," Merrett said.

"We've been quite off at times and not putting a consistent effort in."

 

[Dylan12]

A test against the best
April 30, 2013
Sam Lord

Daniel Merrett believes Sunday’s clash against reigning AFL Premiers Sydney could be just what the Brisbane Lions need to kick-start their season. But Merrett says the team will head to Sydney with some confidence on the back of last Sunday’s win against Melbourne at the Gabba. “It gives us a little bit of momentum heading into Sydney, which is going to be a massive test,” Merrett said. “As a group we’re really looking forward to it.”

The Lions full-back admitted that his side ‘wasn’t travelling that great at the moment’ and would need to find some form quickly if they’re to cause an upset this Sunday. “We haven’t handled the pressure well at all over the first few rounds. Those couple of bad performances we put in (at Etihad Stadium) were really disappointing,” he said.

 

[Dylan12]

 

[Dylan12]

Veteran defender Daniel Merrett said the side knew it needed a dramatic lift against teams such as the Swans, which would not afford them the same acres of room as the hapless Demons. He said it was the playing group that should shoulder the blame for early season performances, not Voss, and speculation over his future wasn't concerning the playing staff.

“That's for you guys to speculate about. We're here to do a job. He's our coach and what has let us down is our performances as players, just being quite off at times and not putting a consistent effort in. We stay out of it,” Merrett said. Merrett said there was a feeling of relief after taking care of business against the Demons, which seemingly couldn't believe they were in the game at half-time before being blown off the park.

“Getting to sing the club song was great. Sitting at two and three now pegs back a little bit of momentum. I'd hate to think it was the other way if we had of lost that one. It would have been a very sombre place,” he said.

 

[Dylan12]

Leading by example
May 2, 2013
Sam Lord

Daniel Merrett and Matthew Leuenberger joined Logan City Mayor Pam Parker at St Paul’s Primary School in Woodridge on Wednesday as part of the Club’s final Lion Hearted Leaders session for 2013.

The Lion Hearted Leaders is a school based program which was developed by Lions players in conjunction with the Brisbane Lions Welfare and Fan Development departments, and AFL Queensland.

Merrett said the initiative has made a real impact, both on the local community and the players themselves. “For us, it’s all about people in our position influencing them in a positive way and I think going out to schools is where we can do our best work.” Merrett told The Courier Mail. “I don’t think many of them would have had an opportunity to go to a game before, so it’s awesome for them as a community and the more people going to our games the better.”

 

[Silent Alarm]

This dude's taste in music is probably one of the best in the AFL. Affable bloke as well, going by his triple J interview.

 

[3KZ is Football]

This dude's taste in music is probably one of the best in the AFL. Affable bloke as well, going by his triple J interview.

That may be, but based on his performances this year, Merrett is clearly the most overrated and disappointing player on our list. In his ninth season of football, Merrett's decision making is still appalling at times and his "brain fades" are not what you would expect from an experienced footballer. Watching him handball the ball to Josh Hill in the last quarter and Hill kicking the "sealer" just reminded me that Merrett's only "elite skill" is his ability to get to the marking contest and spoil. When he has the ball in his hands, anything can happen. Leigh Matthews made pretty much the same observation years ago and sadly, nothing has changed.

 

[Jorgo]

Personally I think you're being harsh on the bloke 3KZ. Over the last couple of years his kicking and decision making has gone from cringe worthy & somewhat embarrassing to be above passable. He is having a rough trot of it at the moment I'll not argue that point but the wide brush you've gone with there is over the top IMO.

He has clearly been one of our most important players over the last couple of years and deserves some credit for that and not to be pegged back to the earlier years of his development for a bunch of bad games. I have faith that his form will return.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Personally I think you're being harsh on the bloke 3KZ. Over the last couple of years his kicking and decision making has gone from cringe worthy & somewhat embarrassing to be above passable. He is having a rough trot of it at the moment I'll not argue that point but the wide brush you've gone with there is over the top IMO.

He has clearly been one of our most important players over the last couple of years and deserves some credit for that and not to be pegged back to the earlier years of his development for a bunch of bad games. I have faith that his form will return.

You might be right Jorgo, perhaps I am being a bit harsh, but he is out of form and playing some very ugly football. After nine years of senior football, an "above passable" rating for disposal and decision making is disappointing in my book. I think you are right Jorgo, he has improved, but as a footballer, the bar is expected to rise over time. More is and should be expected. I watched him closely when we played North Melbourne and he was making some fundamental skill errors that good defenders don't make. In particular, I have noticed the number of times he is either late at the contest or he gets himself under the ball and lets it get behind him. His handball to Hill was reminicent of his "close your eyes and cross your fingers" clangers of yesteryear, but these basic defensive errors are more costly in the long run. Also, other posters have commented on the fact that his body language / demeanour are not good. It appears that he is playing "angry" and while this may be borne of his frustration at being out of touch, it not only looks bad, but it is likely to compound his issues. As a senior player, greater maturity needs to be evident.

Perhaps it is time that players like Merrett and Adcock had the "acid" put on them a little, particularly when it comes to decision making and disposal. These guys are not first, second or third year players anymore.

All that said, I hope his form does return.

 

[Jorgo]

Don't disagree at all. Badly out of form and I think the "anger" in his body language and some of his actions is because of that. I think he knows where he has been at in the last couple of years and is frustrated he's not there right now.

More should be expected of him of what he is producing right now and it's clear he knows that too.

I was just disputing the "clearly the most overrated and disappointing player on our list" statement of your post mainly I guess. As well as the implication that after nine years he hasn't improved that much.

 

[dlanod]

Don't disagree at all. Badly out of form and I think the "anger" in his body language and some of his actions is because of that. I think he knows where he has been at in the last couple of years and is frustrated he's not there right now.

More should be expected of him of what he is producing right now and it's clear he knows that too.

I was just disputing the "clearly the most overrated and disappointing player on our list" statement of your post mainly I guess. As well as the implication that after nine years he hasn't improved that much.

Seconded. I'd agree he's out of form and that more is expected of him. But evaluating his "overrated"ness and "disappointing"ness over his career purely off this year's games is just a bit silly.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Seconded. I'd agree he's out of form and that more is expected of him. But evaluating his "overrated"ness and "disappointing"ness over his career purely off this year's games is just a bit silly.

I'll take "just a bit silly," at this stage dlanod, because I've been rated as very silly at times. Perhaps we'll revisit the issue at the end of the season. Then I suppose we will be better placed to evaluate Merrett's current importance to the side in more detail and we will be also be more able to discuss how the year has impacted upon people's views about his career in retrospect and his prospects for the future as we contemplate the Lions post-2013.

 

[chopperduck]

It's amazing when a player is in good form, people talk them up, and when they are a bit down, suddenly they are overrated and disappointing. Not just referring to this discussion, but many posters on many of our team, very quick to drop players, senior players at that who are a bit out of touch, and forget what they can and do bring to the team. End of the day, it's still a team sport and when the team is playing bad, you rarely have many players who still played a good game. Likewise when the team plays well, suddenly everyone seems to have a great game. It's not coincidence, form has a run on effect through the team.

 

[John]

Not sure I think he has been as bad as some of you think. His mistake last game was no different than his one humongous clanger per game anyway. This one was just at the wrong time.

 

[Dylan12]

Meanwhile, Lions defender Daniel Merrett has been cleared by the AFL's match review panel of any wrongdoing during Brisbane's loss to West Coast last Saturday.

Merrett careened into Eagles forward Jack Darling during a marking contest in the first quarter, but the match review panel ruled the contact did not constitute a reportable offence.

 

[Grimreepah]

Re the clanger - two and a bit goals down with less than five minutes to go - he was taking a high risk (ie. through the corridor) approach to score quickly. With that context in mind, I don't think it deserves as much criticism as it's getting. If the game was still in the balance then that's a different story. Re his form - he hasn't been great, but I still think he's been more than serviceable.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Re the clanger - two and a bit goals down with less than five minutes to go - he was taking a high risk (ie. through the corridor) approach to score quickly. With that context in mind, I don't think it deserves as much criticism as it's getting. If the game was still in the balance then that's a different story. Re his form - he hasn't been great, but I still think he's been more than serviceable.

I imagine Merrett will get rubbed out for his sling tackle on Hurley today. Disappointing lack of discipline.

 

[Harris Specter]

I imagine Merrett will get rubbed out for his sling tackle on Hurley today. Disappointing lack of discipline.

Hardly see how it was a lack of discipline. He thought Hurley had the ball, tackled him, and FWIW I didn't think it was a sling tackle.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Hardly see how it was a lack of discipline. He thought Hurley had the ball, tackled him, and FWIW I didn't think it was a sling tackle.

I've watched it in slow motion at least ten times and no matter what we call it, it was ugly and as we all know, there are rules that preclude tackles of that nature. I know that these things happen in "real time," but Hurley had already coughed the ball up and everyone in the vicinity seemed to have realised this. I would be really suprised looking at the vision if Merret didn't. He had both Hurley's arms and could see that Ryder had the ball because he appeared to be looking right at it. At this stage, Hurley still had his feet. Freeze your screen at 12:46 remaining to see what I mean. Under these circumstances I do see what Merrett does next as a lack of discipline. The umpire was well placed and he paid a free kick against Merrett, which was clearly there.

I hope I am wrong and I hope he is not cited, but I suspect he will be.

 

[dlanod]

Unfortunately Merrett didn't have the benefit of slow motion...

Watching it in real time it looked fair but an unfortunate result. It wasn't the slinging motion of Trengove, etc, where they threw the player to the ground, but rather a tackle that had Merrett's full body behind it and Hurley unable to break his fall. Having said that, he'll probably get cited given the result.

 

[sonofabeams]

In my humble opinion he will get a couple of weeks, BUT it just adds to long list of silly , dumb ill disciplined acts that saucehead continues to do week in week out.

 

[cotter101]

With Clarke and Patful in good form down back and Maguire to return probably next week, I wouldnt be against having Brown and Merrett up forward. When Sauce returns from his likely suspension of course...

 

[lionshine]

With Clarke and Patful in good form down back and Maguire to return probably next week, I wouldnt be against having Brown and Merrett up forward. When Sauce returns from his likely suspension of course...

Maguire didn't play reserves and Clarke could be suspended as well.

 

[cotter101]

Maguire didn't play reserves and Clarke could be suspended as well.

Yeah, I know Clarke might be suspended as well, which is why I hinted at Goose playing next week. They will need him back if both of them are ruled out.

 

[Brisbane2013]

merrit should plead not guilty over insanity