Also means that Hawthorn can’t shop around their pick 9 so we can still muck them around for another day.
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I’m confident Hawthorn will trade pick 9 to the Pies or Adelaide or someone else for a future 1st tomorrow to help with other trades. I think this ship has sailed. I hope I’m wrong but I really do think Merrett will stay.
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Now what part of the response do they not understand.
Daaa
He may well.
But I don’t think this is done.
They have all the way up to the draft (and well, during the draft) to trade it.
Not sure that’s going to do them much harm.
Hawthorn, predictably, trying to tank the deal.
They knew it would take something special and they offered a beige Kia Sportage of a deal.
Then they “impose a deadline” ROFL
They will attempt to play this off as the “Essendon hard to deal with” and a few outlets will report in favour of that.
They don’t want Merrett any more and are trying to save face.
I hope somebody else comes with a late offer for him, otherwise we have a cancer on our list for a year.
Again.
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playing dangerous battery games here
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We have picks 5&6 plus a couple of second rounders and 2 ngas coming that’s plenty to hit the draft with this year so the club is still planning for the future
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I hope you’re right because I do think we stand to gain more in the long term by trading him out. We’ll see but I anticipate a big anti-climax here.
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Do you see him as a massive upgrade of May, McMahon, Edward’s, Jones?
I’m not sold, it’s pretty easy to look good as a forward in the hawks side and he hasn’t really achieved that. Gunston was on his last legs at Brisbane, he was a star this year at the hawks
This has been happening from day one. Some clickbait beggar in the media attributes a motivation, as good as putting words in the bloke’s mouth, when it’s really just said clickbait scum scraper’s fever fantasy, Blitz duly takes it as gospel and turns its considerable fury on the most consistent player we’ve had in two decades.
It’s nice to be able to pretend forget there are reasons he wants to get out of the dump.
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Isn’t that pick 9 and 10 in a weak draft?
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Violently refreshing for Wander updates
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We’ll be here again in 12 months time, if we don’t ship out this cockwobble in the next 24 hrs. All We’ll gain is a lower value trade òpportunity, and a couple of extra meaningless wins that lowers our 2026 primary pick. I pray these talk tough knuckles at the club understand the implications of retaining the twerp.
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The Age:
Disruption premium: Why the Hawks’ first, late Merrett bid just doesn’t cut it
October 14, 2025 — 7.38pm
Hawthorn’s first offer to Essendon for Zach Merrett came about 30 hours before the trade deadline, and wasn’t sufficient for the Bombers to even consider it seriously.
In normal circumstances, the offer of pick No.9, a future first-round pick, a future second-round choice, and a fourth-rounder or a fringe player (Henry Hustwaite), would be reasonable for an A-grade player who is 30 years old.
But these are not normal circumstances at Essendon and, as everyone has discovered, Zach Merrett is far from a normal captain or player.
Hawthorn have to understand that they’ve chucked a small bomb into Tullamarine by trying to purloin a skipper – also Essendon’s best player by a lamentable distance – at a time of tumult for the Bombers.
The mere fact of attempting to prise Merrett out of Essendon, when he has a contract, was an incendiary action that immediately put the Bombers into Rambo mode (“you drew first blood”).
To win over Essendon’s board, led by new president Andrew Welsh – who is taking a hands-on role and is heavily enmeshed in the discussions – the Hawks will have to pay overs to secure Merrett. This should have been obvious to the Hawks weeks ago.
In part, they have to pay what is best-described as a disruption premium. To get Merrett requires an additional tax on whatever he is worth, because of the carnage it has caused at the club he is seeking to depart. And that tax is not reduced by the lines in the sand, the 1980s history and general enmity between the red and black and brown and gold.
Merrett wants out, wanting success on the field after 12 years’ hard labour. Fair enough. Players are allowed to seek new employers. But the nature of his attempted escape has been so messy – and so incensed various people at Essendon – that Hawthorn have to take ownership of the situation. They are the prospective buyer, after all.
The deadline of 7pm on Tuesday night for Essendon accepting the draft part of the offer may or may not prove a bluff. But it does not strike as the best method to negotiate when you’re the party that a) is seeking a contracted player, and b) you have not offered a single player of value, ie, one with the prospect of improving Essendon, much less making the Bombers great again.
Hawthorn, understandably, have been coy about putting players on the altar as sacrifices for Merrett. The Hawks do not wish to cause grief within their playing group.
Is Cam Mackenzie actually available? If they haven’t already, Hawthorn should front him and let him know if that’s the case.
It is hypocritical to inflict harm on another club’s internal cohesion and then be unwilling to even consider a much less-disruptive conversation with your own players.
It is not as though Essendon are asking for Will Day or Jai Newcombe.
Is Mitch Lewis a chance? If so, the Hawks should hurry up and put him in the mix for the Merrett trade. It is unhelpful, too, that Sam Mitchell is overseas and might not be well-positioned to have hard conversations.
Pick No.9 is fine, but the other picks on offer are problematic. If Hawthorn landed Merrett, their 2026 first-rounder could well end up in the 16-20 range after academy bids and so forth; indeed, that would be the likely outcome.
Second-rounders, in that scenario, aren’t worth much.
The deal is not improved by adding secondary draft picks and a player who doesn’t play seniors at Hawthorn.
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Jake gets it
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History would suggest this is not, in fact, “plenty”.
More picks is better.
Holding Merrett does nothing to improve our future prospects.
It will be interesting to see if it has any adverse affect on players signing long deals here though. Possibly enough to counter the benefit of “Oooh Essendon so strong, Essendon say no trade, no chase Essendon players”.
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