#7 Zerrett in the beginning

Great game today, well done.

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Brilliant game by Zerrett today. Some of his kicks in traffic to hit up a teammate on the chest were fantastic.

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There’s the Zerrett we know and love.

Welcome back, son.

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Led the team in pressure acts, I hope that is a trend that continues

The question is why wasn’t Brisbane tagging Zach?
35 damaging possessions to Neale’s ineffective stats gathering.
Well played young Merrett.

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Finally looks like he is close to full fitness now.

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Yeah, much much cleaner around the ball, no double grabbing and fumbles.

Didn’t like his little dive in the 3rd though

He was back last week. This kid has had 59 pressure acts across his last 2 games. Must be close to the highest pressure player in the AFL?

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Building a nice little bromance with Shiel

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Hopefully, he can give Dylan a few pointers on how to hit a target

Did the HuN do an article on Zerret and his pressure acts? I don’t have an account so anyone bothered to share I’d be very grateful.

My photo! First time I have photographed a Bombers win since shooting AFL (3 years now - only 1 or 2 games a week), was a nice one to shoot!

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Fantastic photo - great work!

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he’s BACK

loves playing with Shiel, 2x Mr Footballs.

That was more like the Zac I know. If it wasn’t for tippa, I would of had Zac BOG

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Go back and watch the replay just for this blokes contested ball winning. It’s absolutely back to an elite level!

Everything he does is so quick that’s its sometimes hard to see how he did it. His quick hands, quick taps, quick first couple steps along with a subtle timed bump to win the footy is unreal. And throw in a couple clean pickups, spins, and a release handball just for good measure.

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Applies to Merrett, and the others too, but winning has to be a good thing for their confidence and making them play better. It’ll make footy a happy pursuit, and they’ll be hungry to keep winning because they know they have a chance at finals.

will be on afl 360 tonight

I’d put on my Bombers footy jumper with no. 7 on the back & watch that (if I were in OZ). I’m not in OZ, but will still put on my footy jumper. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-essendon-midfielder-zach-merrett-explains-the-club-bought-into-the-external-preseason-hype/news-story/6be9f962ce537d9b3129349d49695d95

AFL 2019: Essendon midfielder Zach Merrett explains the club bought into the external pre-season hype

AFL

Matt Balmer

Zach Merrett (centre) believes the Bombers bought into the pre-season hype before their heavy loss to GWS. Photo: Michael Dodge/Getty Images.Source: Getty Images

Essendon midfielder Zach Merrett believes the Bombers bought into the pre-season hype and took their eye off the prize heading into Round 1.

The Bombers were convincingly beaten in the opening two matches, resulting in three-time premiership player Mark Maclure declaring Essendon lacked an identity and had completely fallen away from the facets of their game that made them so strong late last year.

Merrett explained their loss to GWS in Round 1 was a “rude awakening”, which forced a rethink from the playing group. The Bombers have since bounced back to win their last two matches heading into a Good Friday clash with North Melbourne in Round 5.

“I think it just felt like we probably bought into a little bit of expectation I think as players,” Merrett said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 .

“I think that we thought it was just going to roll on and we were just going to perform how we did the back end of last year and that obviously didn’t happen because the competition’s so strong.

“It was a bit of a rude awakening Round 1 against the Giants that played some good footy but we were clearly off the mark, so I think it was a bit of a rude awakening.”

Merrett was blasted for a lack of effort in his attempt to tackle during the opening quarter against the Giants in Round 1, resulting in Essendon great Tim Watson declaring it wasn’t AFL standard.

“It’s almost as if he’s given up. This is as bad as it can possibly be,” Watson said on Channel 7’s Talking Footy .

Zach Merrett has bounced back to be one of the Bombers’ best over the last two weeks. Photo: Daniel Pockett/AAP Image.Source: AAP

“This is tough on Zach Merrett, he’s a youngish type player — that is not AFL standard.

“There is not a coach in the competition that would accept that as effort.”

The 23-year-old explained there were a number of incidents from the contest that weren’t good enough, but suggested the external pressure from Watson and on social media didn’t influence him during the week leading up to the Round 2 clash with St Kilda.

“It’s obviously disappointing, there was more highlighted internally as not being as good enough performance by myself though,” Merrett said.

Zach Merrett had 35 disposals against Brisbane in Round 4. Photo: Daniel Pockett/AAP Image.Source: AAP

“So although that was highlighted externally, it doesn’t really influence too much the way I go about improving and playing and training during the week.

“So obviously had to acknowledge it … it was a bit of something new, I’d never really experienced it, so initially it was a bit of a shock and a bit disappointing but ultimately it was reality, wasn’t it? It was footage of what actually happened so it was a great chance to learn from.”

Since the Bombers horror losses in Round 1 and 2, they have hit back to win their last two games, with the Essendon midfielder rising against Melbourne and Brisbane Lions.

Merrett had a team-high 35 disposals, seven clearances and seven inside 50s — kicking at 87 per cent efficiency against the Lions.

“He’s been a really poor player in the first two weeks. Clearly he’s had a good week on the track, he’s been unleashed today. With his disposal, he’s been so creative,” Healy said on Fox Footy on Saturday.

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