Zach Merrett, the current Essendon captain, is of interest as he turns 30 next month. The immensely talented midfielder has made his intentions known that he wants to be at Hawthorn, but the whole saga got very convoluted very quickly. Essendon coach Brad Scott has firmly stated that Merrett is “going nowhere,” while reports indicate that the player feels “shattered” with his current club and is determined to leave.
Unsurprisingly, Merrett’s frustrations mostly come from what he believes was the undermining of his professionalism by Essendon, as well as the leaking against him. For him and his husband, their choice was clear. It came to a head when they threatened an in-season visit to Tom Petroro’s Manhattan office to announce their intention to leave the club altogether. Former Hawthorn premiership player Luke Hodge believes that Merrett should be eager to join any of the top four or six teams from this year’s competition.
According to Hodge, “Surely he’d be putting his hand up to jump to any of those clubs.” He further added that given the current circumstances, “there’s no way he could walk back into Essendon.” Hodge spoke to Merrett’s unique talent on this front. He argued that Merrett would be more valuable to Hawthorn than star talent Christian Petracca.
Adelaide has become a dark horse in the race for Merrett’s signature. The club then announced that they were “in the conversation” to steal the trade expecting to go to Hawthorn. This would indicate that Merrett’s options are not limited to just one club.
AFL.com.au’s Caroline Wilson reporting that Essendon is carefully leaking information to the press to control the narrative around Merrett’s plight. Such behavior reveals a deeply toxic culture club-wide toxic culture. “They’ve been the prime leakers all the way through,” Wilson remarked, adding that Merrett has not handled his departure in an ideal manner.
The weird saga of the contentious relationship between Merrett and Essendon seems to have finally come to an end. Wilson noted, “Which to anyone who grew up in the ‘80s and knows about the unadulterated hatred and rivalry between those two clubs knows how poisonous this has become for some people at Essendon.”
The Essendon Football Club this week conducted their own version of the somewhat overhyped bloodbath list management meeting, plotting their course for a serious premiership challenge next season. Now it’s become clear that in fact the prospect of Merrett going back to Essendon is looking very unlikely.
Clubs like Hawthorn, for example, are becoming particularly interested in Merrett’s services, understanding the difference he could make to their list. As Hodge highlights, “I don’t think what I said has finally been the straw that broke the camel’s back,” pointing out that tensions had been building long before this trade talk surfaced.
