support the new leadership group or ■■■■ off
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“This Club” better step up now and provide Merrret much needed personal support, a much better professional environment and some hope that the club can make finals.
“This Club” includes supporters and Blitz.
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The question is then,
Did he go cap in hand ask for more cash then got knocked back?
After that he meets Mitchell, they offer 1.3 and he wants out.
I would say we front ended his deal.
It costs a lot to keep Alexandra happy.
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Works hard all pre season. Keeps head down, does what’s required. Comes out round 1 and we smash Hawthorn, and Merrett tells Mitchell to get stuffed.
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Spot on by Dan
This was never in doubt given the Harley Reid offer
And frankly, anybody would have their head turned by such an offer given higher pay, less responsibility (Sicily captain) and chances of success
The whole “he’s 30” mantra however like he’s in his last few years of good footy is patently wrong however… as evident by that offer.
Merrett could be the next 400 games player and still be playing at a very high level Zorko and Pendles like late in his career.
Hawks knew his value but tried to get him on cheap as well as played their hand pathetically bad, as did Petroro whose just missed his juicy sign on bonus. Too bad so sad sucker!!
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Whatever happened either way Merrett outcome it was going to be an ongoing drama.
With every stretch of losses in 2026, the media will be asking the question of what’s going on in Merretts mind and how is Essendon handling the ‘distraction’. EFC won’t be able to escape the distraction if it’s as expects, a challenging season.
Still, whatever EFC did it was always going to be challenging.
It’s going to be an interesting 12 months. Hopefully the sideshow doesn’t detract from what the Club is building. There’s no guarantees.
We are clearly a no-go zone in 2025 (thanks s&c and Dodoro) but I reckon we will have a better year in 2026 and will show enough stability & promise to attract players. I would sit down with Merrett mid-year and sound him out. If he wants a trade, we get on the front foot and plan for it. It’s in his interest to play well on-field and collaborate off-field for a win / win (e.g. by having a shortlist of clubs to which he is happy to be traded).
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I think the S&C team will have a very big impact. We will see a tougher, stronger and fitter team.
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Zack was clear top 10 in AFL according to coaches’ votes until he moved out of the midfield. He is genuine elite and worth $1.3m. The 5 years shows his expected longevity is accepted by hawks.
If we could get a top 10 AFL player for 5 years - when we’re in the window - we’ll need to offer one really good draft pick (eg #3) plus extras, to get the deal done. If #3 is offered in bits mostly being picks in the 20s, then it’s obvious the deal offered was discounted heavily in hawk’s favour.
As already noted, they really farked this up.
I think there are 2 possibilities next year. Zack asks to be traded to geelong, or if our younger players show genuine talent, he might recommit and enjoy the ride.
Regardless, I doubt he’ll revisit this experience with the hawks.
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fixed
So much of our progress from here is going to depend on them.
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So the purple pelican is a plant for managers to manipulate. It was there for all to see the other night when he took that message from that idiot manager.
Purple could not believe it. He was so excited about getting this information that he forgot that he was on TV and started reading aloud. He then explained that perhaps he should not be mentioning this. But too late.
Damage already done. He has been shown that he hates us and loves nothing more than to try and disrupt our club. If you could stomach to look at his doors article, whatever that is, (I’ll put it at the bottom so you don’t have to click on it.) and it shows how he can twist something right around to make it look bad for EFC.
The AFL needs to make a point to purple that he is in fact their employee - not a journalist as some might believe - and is trying to disable a club in the competition. and as the AFL promotes our game as an even opportunity for all clubs to operate in. People look at it and see that he is trying to bring a club down because he personally doesn’t like them.
It is obvious what Merrett’s manager was trying to do and he has a facilitator in purple, to be used as a tool or a lever to get an outcome for his client. To have the AFL condoning the use of one of the employees to try and bring down a major part of the organisation is very poor by the AFL.
Any fair-minded person would see that this deal was poorly run by Hawthorn Football Club. It was a shambles that they organised it that way. They could have given us plenty of time and plenty of options, but they didn’t. They tried to pressure us into a situation, with no time to do anything about it. The only people who don’t see it this way is the Hawthorn Football Club and Purple.
I thought Andrew Welsh was fantastic in the way he held firm, and I would suggest Welsh gets in touch with the AFL and explains how Managers that have Purple’s ear and to act as the court jester, is not helpful in this situation. Purple is putting his own ego and hatred ahead of AFL policy, to promote the game.
==IF …
taking a stand on contracted captain Zach Merrett was one thing and allows for some “well, we told you we weren’t trading him” type of statements right now …
THEN …
dealing with the consequences in coming days, weeks and months is another. Remove the emotion from the Zach Merrett mess, and it was a good deal for a 30-year-old who has come to loathe being at this club, and one which could have been favourably massaged through meaningful negotiation.
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What if that string of losses belongs to the Dawks?
Other questions will be asked and their shoddy attempt to strong-arm a shabby deal will come under even more scrutiny.
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Id be interested to know the exact nature of tge relationship between that and Hawthorn making their move so late.
Media wise it will.
But fans wise, it won’t. Based on how we went in the first 15 or so rounds last year where we spent quite a bit of time in the top 4, fans (especially here) have an underlying distrust of everything Essendon (rightly or wrongly).
So most fans are in the Richmond bucket. Where there is no belief of what they are seeing due to past experiences until they reach a preliminary final. I point to it quite a bit, but the Ninthmond in Richmond was there in 2017. And no Richmond supporter was feeling bullish after an after the siren loss to Freo and the 3 minutes of the worst footy ever against GWS in that same year. So whatever year we win our premiership, Essington will show up during that year. And it won’t be this easy walk in the park to a premiership like 2000 (even that year had some trepidation to it after the Bulldogs loss and we were always worried about Carlton).
Unfortunately with sports fans (especially the loud ones) it’s an all or nothing approach. Where ultimate glory is all that matters and everything is failure and burn everything to the ground and start again territory. That’s common across all sports. Venture on to other forums to read the same stuff thrown about here (sack the coach, coach has no plan B, plays his favourites, not a gameday coach, should be playing X instead of Y, etc).
I wish things were different, but they are not. Unfortunately, the joys of just competing and watching footy like in the 80s and 90s (I’m not talking our premiership years, but the years outside of that) is long gone. I’m sure a Geelong supporter found it thrilling experiencing Gary Ablett Snr for a decade even though it never brought them a premiership. I don’t expect that to match any of their premiership seasons since the 2000s, but I’m sure it matches their other experiences since then. Maybe, it’s just that the loud obnoxious ones are on social media and their comments are there for all to see whereas back in the 80s and 90s they were concealed or hidden and less ‘consumable’. Especially between games.
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What do you mean by Hawks made their move late? Sydney didn’t submit their first offer for Curnow until Tuesday as well
There is certainly some opportunity for Zach next year at Essendon.
He can play his best, no longer encumbered by leadership. He can prove his worth beyond doubt.
The team can only say that they’ll look at trading him if we can create a competitive market for his services (not choosing one team). His manager gets 12 months to plot this course.
He can spend more time with fam, less doing media and being the face of the club.
We can transition our midfield to less reliance on Zach and build a leadership team from players that want to be here.
It’s not all a disaster.
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It’ll be the biggest reason why we improve in 26/27.
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