#7 Zerrett in the beginning

Going full Fark Carlton late in the piece.

Aaargh, second go at this.
Damn you Riolio/Johnny Walker Black.

So farking pumped for this guy.
He’s a pup. He’s a farking gun. And he’s all ours.

I wanna know who the blitzer was that I asked ‘who the Fark is that?!?’ when he picked up a ground ball clean on the run at training before he’d played his first game.

I wanna hug him.

Get around me, Blitzers, this does not have to be consensual.

When is Zach Merrett going to finally step up?

Still not good enough for AA selection though…

Still not good enough for AA squad selection though...

Pick in the 20’s with limited preseason, not great defensively but was a proven ball winner with clean skills.

That’s what you call brilliant drafting.
Picking the strengths, seeing the upside, coaching the weaknesses into strengths.

A complete player.

I got on Zach to win hmthe ‘leather poisoning group’ on ladbrokes. Sneaky 5ver for me 50 back I was wraps. Man love for him is real.

He was pulling 2 votes here and there in games where we lost by a good 40 points.

Then there was a game where he polled a 3 when we lost by 48 pts if I remember

19 votes!

Yeah but the Bont got 20. I mean 20 votes. How good is the Bont! No other young player is anywhere near as good as the Bont. The Bont is streets ahead.

Bont is an absolute champion of the game. Between him, Zerrett and Cripps (18 votes) we should feel very privileged to be about to watch these 3 20 year olds

Agree, but its pretty obvious Fairbread is talking about the massive hype that surrounds Bontempelli, while Zerret is virtually un recognised outside our club.
Part of the hype thing is having been seen to “impose himself on the game” at key moments. Bontempelli had many more opportunities to do that given the team he played in.

Do wonder if he’ll keep polling so well with Heppell back.

Wins B&F by a mile, voted by EFC peeps

Top 10 in brownlow, voted by umps.

Not selected in AA squad, voted by chumps.

Priddis won a Brownlow and didnt make the AA side

I didn’t win a Brownlow nor make the AA side.

Do wonder if he'll keep polling so well with Heppell back.

Yeah, I think we’re missing the fact that players like Bont are surrounded by guys nicking votes off him left right and centre. Dogs had a good spread, as did GWS, reckon Zach wouldn’t mind sharing the love next year. Not to detract from a stunning FU to the AA ‘selectors’

Do wonder if he'll keep polling so well with Heppell back.

Both will poll well. They can just handball back and forth between themselves and each average 35+ disposals per match.

Do wonder if he'll keep polling so well with Heppell back.

Both will poll well. They can just handball back and forth between themselves and each average 35+ disposals per match.

In all seriousness, if Zerrett continues on this trajectory, the points he loses to Heppell et al will be more than offset by the increase in wins. Even if we only get 10 wins next year, which I think is a reasonable aim - this guy could win it.

Polled more than all of essendon's other players combined.
Selfish. Making it all about himself.
19 votes!

Yeah but the Bont got 20. I mean 20 votes. How good is the Bont! No other young player is anywhere near as good as the Bont. The Bont is streets ahead.

Bont is an absolute champion of the game. Between him, Zerrett and Cripps (18 votes) we should feel very privileged to be about to watch these 3 20 year olds

Agree, but its pretty obvious Fairbread is talking about the massive hype that surrounds Bontempelli, while Zerret is virtually un recognised outside our club.
Part of the hype thing is having been seen to “impose himself on the game” at key moments. Bontempelli had many more opportunities to do that given the team he played in.

Yep, results matter. We win that St kilda game where zerret put us in front with a left foot snap people start talking about him as a ‘match winner’.

I love it when wim goes full fark Carlton

Do wonder if he'll keep polling so well with Heppell back.

Yeah, I think we’re missing the fact that players like Bont are surrounded by guys nicking votes off him left right and centre. Dogs had a good spread, as did GWS, reckon Zach wouldn’t mind sharing the love next year. Not to detract from a stunning FU to the AA ‘selectors’

Players in the winning team tend to pick up two or three of the three votes especially in a dominant win.

Do wonder if he'll keep polling so well with Heppell back.

Yeah, I think we’re missing the fact that players like Bont are surrounded by guys nicking votes off him left right and centre. Dogs had a good spread, as did GWS, reckon Zach wouldn’t mind sharing the love next year. Not to detract from a stunning FU to the AA ‘selectors’

Players in the winning team tend to pick up two or three of the three votes especially in a dominant win.

True

19 votes!

Yeah but the Bont got 20. I mean 20 votes. How good is the Bont! No other young player is anywhere near as good as the Bont. The Bont is streets ahead.

Bont is an absolute champion of the game. Between him, Zerrett and Cripps (18 votes) we should feel very privileged to be about to watch these 3 20 year olds

Agree, but its pretty obvious Fairbread is talking about the massive hype that surrounds Bontempelli, while Zerret is virtually un recognised outside our club.
Part of the hype thing is having been seen to “impose himself on the game” at key moments. Bontempelli had many more opportunities to do that given the team he played in.

Yep, results matter. We win that St kilda game where zerret put us in front with a left foot snap people start talking about him as a ‘match winner’.

It is interesting to look at which type of “midfielder” wins the most Brownlows.

The classic rover, is a fast runner, a “follower”, who spends vast amounts of energy runs 18+km in a game and is everywhere from 0 metres out to mopping up in defence. Thats the role Zerret was playing. He even won best defensive player at the Crichton. Dangerfield is also a “rover”.
Or the ruck rover, ( follower) “big bodied mid” in current parlance this is a Jobe / Bontempelli sized body that just cannot run at the speeds of a Zerret / Dangerfield for a whole game, but has the power to beat bigger opponents and bust out of packs. Or the classic “centre” player who in the classic game was more the architect or “playmaker” at the hub of the wheel. Bontempelli and Zerret are different types of players. Bontempelli much slower, much less energetic, and because he is slower, appears to have “poise” and dramatically “beats his man” Bontempelli is certainly not a “rover” in the classic sense, more the ruck rover/ centreman.

I believe rover type players win more Brownlows. This puts Zerret and in the medium term Parish who is also a “rover” type player into the frame over and above Hepp. Happy whoever wins it. Thats just the way I see the most likely of our current players to win the Brownlow in the years ahead.

I don’t think 19 votes was unexpected at all. He was sensational this year and all the Bomber fans know just how valuable he was. I guess the umpires saw it that way too.
To me, this makes the decision to not be selected in the AA squad less relevant. He has bigger ambitions than to be selected in a squad.

He will go far… very far! This is about to be an exciting journey and we are only at the beginning.