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

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There we go, that's the clip:

 
boncer34 said:
Just to be clear.

The Luke Hodge born in 1984 was 30 in 2016?
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Nvm my math late at night was horrible

Point was more so that in 2016 he was still a good player but not as good, and it would’ve been ridiculous for him to be offered that much.

It’s hard to say how much he would be hypothetically worth whilst he was in the middle of a three peat tho.

Better to look at say Sicily if Hawthorn were in Essendon’s position. Would they take three firsts for him? I’d say yes, tho that’s my opinion.
 
Dewyyyyy said:
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.
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Now the dust has settled, if Merrett wants out again it will make more sense for him to pick a new destination. Hawthorn would have other priorities next year and knowing what we know now unfortunately Merrett will surely be lower on them.
 

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George Zip said:
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.
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GejFFq_XUAAX8gK2.png
 
Tell me again how retaining Zack, the bloke who instigated the trade request to leave Essendon, who multiple times as reported by multiple sources said he wants to leave Essendon, helps improve your list for 2026 and beyond?

FYI, I am one of the few who is glad we didn't have to pay overs in draft picks. I still don't get the logic in Essendon not wanting to get additional draft picks to trade?
 
Matilda05 said:
Tell me again how retaining Zack, the bloke who instigated the trade request to leave Essendon, who multiple times as reported by multiple sources said he wants to leave Essendon, helps improve your list for 2026 and beyond?

FYI, I am one of the few who is glad we didn't have to pay overs in draft picks. I still don't get the logic in Essendon not wanting to get additional draft picks to trade?
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He doesn't.

A lot of Essendon fans would have taken the deal and moved on. Personally I am in this camp.

However.

Watching Hawks fans lose their shit after their club gave a shitty offer at the last minute for Merrett (after clearly giving him enough assurance they would get him across for him to blow up his reputation) is a nice panacea.
 
hawkman said:
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
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If Merrett was considering a move earlier then the club could have worked around it. It was a very late decision by Merrett and it was about whether or not Essendon was going to be a contender in his career.

Hawks fans trying to make out like it is something bigger than that is sad.
 
Vindicater said:
He doesn't.

A lot of Essendon fans would have taken the deal and moved on. Personally I am in this camp.

However.

Watching Hawks fans lose their shit after their club gave a shitty offer at the last minute for Merrett (after clearly giving him enough assurance they would get him across for him to blow up his reputation) is a nice panacea.
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It was a great offer, unprecedented in fact, but your Trump-like president painted himself into a corner by promising Essendon members Merrett would be at the club on Day 1 of pre-season training.
 
George Zip said:
It was a great offer, unprecedented in fact, but your Trump-like president painted himself into a corner by promising Essendon members Merrett would be at the club on Day 1 of pre-season training.
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Except for the other 2 better offers made this trade period.
 
George Zip said:
It was a great offer, unprecedented in fact, but your Trump-like president painted himself into a corner by promising Essendon members Merrett would be at the club on Day 1 of pre-season training.
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Unprecedented… Christ that word is overused

And Trump-like! 😂
 

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George Zip said:
It was a great offer, unprecedented in fact, but your Trump-like president painted himself into a corner by promising Essendon members Merrett would be at the club on Day 1 of pre-season training.
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Unprecedented?

It was, before F/S and academy bids, p10, p22, 2026 first round (so probably ~p18 once FA compo is dished out) and a player who hasn't even played a full senior game in the second half of the year.

p10 + p18 + p22 before bids is definitely reasonable, but it's not unprecedented.
 
George Zip said:
It was a great offer, unprecedented in fact, but your Trump-like president painted himself into a corner by promising Essendon members Merrett would be at the club on Day 1 of pre-season training.
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It was not a great offer. It was fair, which is why I would have taken it but it was not great, particularly when we already had a shit tonne of draft picks in this draft. The 10 was useful. The 22 was not really due to us already having 3 picks in the 20s already. The first next year would have been useful. Hustwaite would have been a list spot we already don't have.
 
Matilda05 said:
Tell me again how retaining Zack, the bloke who instigated the trade request to leave Essendon, who multiple times as reported by multiple sources said he wants to leave Essendon, helps improve your list for 2026 and beyond?

FYI, I am one of the few who is glad we didn't have to pay overs in draft picks. I still don't get the logic in Essendon not wanting to get additional draft picks to trade?
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In all fairness, Merrett has regularly flirted with wanting to leave Essendon. And despite all that has always been a very professional player.

Its entirely probably that Merrett comes back from his break and returns to Essendon next year and plays as his usual standard.
 
The_Reaper said:
In all fairness, Merrett has regularly flirted with wanting to leave Essendon. And despite all that has always been a very professional player.

Its entirely probably that Merrett comes back from his break and returns to Essendon next year and plays as his usual standard.
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My hope is that once the first few weeks are done (the coming back and mending bridges phase from both Merrett and others) that he will be at the same level or better without the captaincy to weigh him down. Just go out and be an elite midfieldwr without having to worry about the other noise.
 
www.abc.net.au

Merrett trade saga shows it is time to stop using first-round picks to judge deals

The AFL trade period offered three different test cases on just how much value a first-round pick holds during negotiations. Two stars got their moves, while one was left stranded.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

This year's trade period was headlined by three All-Australians — Zach Merrett, Charlie Curnow and Christian Petracca — and the respective fates of the trio were all excellent test cases of just how valuable a first-round pick actually is. In the end, Curnow and Petracca got their moves, while Merrett was stranded and the reasons were simple. Sydney and Gold Coast, the teams trading for Curnow and Petracca respectively, were able to follow the NBA blueprint by offering blue-chip assets, while Hawthorn, in its attempt to trade for Merrett, couldn't do the same.

The Suns found themselves in possession of two top-10 picks courtesy of two different trades, and sent those to Melbourne along with an additional 2026 first-rounder to get the deal done.

Sydney appeased Carlton by including Will Hayward in the deal, a player who is comfortably in its first-choice line-up and a valuable asset, an addition to three first-round picks. The first of those is currently slated to be 11th in the draft, but may fall to as low as 14th by the time the Blues actually make the pick. If Curnow improves the Swans as many predict, the chances are this year's draft pick may be the best draft asset conveyed to Carlton in the trade. Nevertheless, having Hayward buzzing around at the feet of Harry McKay makes the trade worth doing from Carlton's perspective.

Hawthorn, right throughout the process, was seemingly more interested in mentioning Merrett's age than putting together a package that would convince Essendon to let its captain walk. Henry Hustwaite may become a real player in the coming years and render this entire conversation moot, but he is not a real needle-moving asset in a 2025 trade, having been nowhere near Hawthorn's first-choice side this year. Hindsight is always 20/20, but had Hawthorn included a player who had played in its preliminary final in the deal, there is a high chance Merrett is a Hawk right now, making his new side one of the pre-season premiership favourites. After being bundled out in a preliminary final last month, Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said standing still would mean moving backwards. Having failed to get the Merrett deal done, the Hawks must now live with that reality, knowing other teams that made the finals have beefed up around them. Hawthorn's final offer to Essendon — picks 10 and 22 in this year's draft and next year's first-rounder, along with Hustwaite — was polished up as being three first-rounders on deadline day, but in reality was far worse a package than what Melbourne received for Petracca. There was a comedic aspect to Merrett's manager, Tom Petroro, trying to claim Hawthorn's package for Merrett as being the best he'd ever seen for a 30-year-old, all while Melbourne was in the process of receiving something greater from the Suns for a player virtually the same age.

Essendon knew it could not simply sell a package of three first-round picks to its members, who are smart enough to know that all those picks would have been mediocre assets at best. It chose an awkward reunion with Merrett instead. Time will tell whether that was the right move or not.
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And then a bit later:
There is no point comparing a trade package involving multiple first-round picks in 2025 to ones from a decade ago, where picks were more valuable and teams couldn't trade picks multiple years in advance. It is like saying $10 today holds the same value as it did a decade ago.
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Imagine trying to sell pick 22 as the difference....

Welsh "I know we already have 21, 27 and 30... but ****ing pick 22 was a gamechanger!!"

Why didn't they just throw in the 4th "first rounder" and ask for a heap of seconds back like GC did?

Also lol @ these soft as butter Hawks players sooking on twitter, just like they sooked when Kenny did his airplane.
 
Lore said:
www.abc.net.au

Merrett trade saga shows it is time to stop using first-round picks to judge deals

The AFL trade period offered three different test cases on just how much value a first-round pick holds during negotiations. Two stars got their moves, while one was left stranded.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au



And then a bit later:
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you're telling me that the lachie neale deal done in what, end of 2018? isn't relevant anymore? wow. that's amazing.

i guess the essendon media mafia (aka not the AFL mouthpieces) really are biased against the hawKKKs...
 
jannissary said:
you're telling me that the lachie neale deal done in what, end of 2018? isn't relevant anymore? wow. that's amazing.

i guess the essendon media mafia (aka not the AFL mouthpieces) really are biased against the hawKKKs...
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Hawthorn Derangement Syndrome
 
Matilda05 said:
Tell me again how retaining Zack, the bloke who instigated the trade request to leave Essendon, who multiple times as reported by multiple sources said he wants to leave Essendon, helps improve your list for 2026 and beyond?

FYI, I am one of the few who is glad we didn't have to pay overs in draft picks. I still don't get the logic in Essendon not wanting to get additional draft picks to trade?
Click to expand...

It is what it is with Zach, we will do our best to get around him and make him feel part of the drive forward. Still has 2 years left.

The funny thing to us is, you guys implemented a ridiculous strategy where you delayed your offer until the day before the trade period with a stupid time limit rofl, in an attempt to put pressure on us. You did NOTHING for 6 weeks since the meeting with Zach and Mitchell and your list manager admitted you didn't even bother talking to any of your players about being part of the deal. You knew for 6 weeks Essendon were steadfast in keeping zach, and you still did NOTHING.

We don't need mass picks, we already have 4-5 picks this year with 2 on the top 10. We don't have the list spots anyway.

Its not just Essendon supporters saying it, the majority of people dont care how guys slice it nor how much copium you guys try to wave in here.

I was kinda OK with the deal hawks offered, but now that the dust has settled and we have heard from both sides, this was a lazy attempt from Hawthorn to get Zach, and id be amazed if he knew how lazy the attempt actually would be.

The hawks strategy was summarised as two things;

1) took a hypocritical approach that it was willing to disrupt another club to get a good player, without being willing to disrupt their own to give a good player.

2) offer late firsts (with ZM you'd be top 4 easily) and then expect the other club to on trade them to make value of them, knowing they are heavily devalued with how strong the hawks would be + all the draft concessions pushing the picks out.

utterly lazy no matter how you slice it.
 
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Westlo said:
Imagine trying to sell pick 22 as the difference....

Welsh "I know we already have 21, 27 and 30... but ****ing pick 22 was a gamechanger!!"

Why didn't they just throw in the 4th "first rounder" and ask for a heap of seconds back like GC did?

Also lol @ these soft as butter Hawks players sooking on twitter, just like they sooked when Kenny did his airplane.
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Can't blame them.

Their coach has just told the world he doesn’t think they're good enough to win the flag.

I'd be lashing out too.
 
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