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Privately, clubs other than Essendon say Zach Merrett can’t go back to the Bombers, and don’t expect him to be there next year given the relationship has so soured it’s untenable for him to return.
Privately, and publicly, Essendon say it’s easy, and self-serving, for those opposition clubs to say that. The Bombers insist the long-term contracted star is going nowhere.
Zach Merrett attended the Brownlow Medal last week as Essendon’s skipper.Credit: Getty Images
That brings us to Thursday night’s Crichton Medal. Merrett has to walk back into the club he supposedly leads but wants to leave. At some point of the night, the captain will inevitably stand up and accept his sixth Crichton Medal. And then what does he say? “How ’bout those Hawks?”
Essendon players have made their feelings known about their captain meeting at the popular new eastern suburbs cafe-bar known as “Sam’s place”. But they have, or will, get over him sitting around Sam Mitchell’s kitchen table and plotting how he can move to Hawthorn. Players are typically more forgiving and understanding of teammates, especially when it comes to contracts and trades.
Essendon management, and likewise their board, who have said to Merrett, “Yeah, nah, not happening, see you back for pre-season” will try to act like all that trade nonsense is behind them.
On Thursday night, those players and officials will take an all-is-forgiven approach to Merrett and if not wrap their arms around him, then at least shake his hand, have a beer and try to act normal.
The more telling aspect will be how forgiving the rest of the room is. This is the real, hardcore Essendon – more so than the players, executive or board. What do they think?
Some will sympathise with Merrett, that he has given everything and year after year has been let down by the club, so they won’t blame him wanting out and accept that enough is enough. Others will say, “Suck it up, you are contracted”.
The broader question beyond Essendon, and for the rest of the clubs approaching trade period, is how long do the Hawks wait for the Bombers to blink? How long do they hold out for Merrett? He is their priority, but, in terms of elite midfielders, Christian Petracca is now dangling tantalisingly once more.
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Last week it became clear to Petracca that getting out of Melbourne was best for him, and Melbourne were content for him to look around. On Sunday night his manager, Anna Scullie, rang her husband Eddie Betts’ old club Adelaide – the club where Petracca’s close mate Alex Neal-Bullen shifted to last year – and told them he was coming over on Monday.
The fact Petracca flew to Adelaide for these meetings only weeks after a new senior Melbourne coach was appointed suggests Petracca’s heartburn with Melbourne runs deeper than a new coach and the die had already been cast (maybe for club and player) long before Steven King was appointed.
It might indicate that King either could not change Petracca’s mind, or that he also took the view that a fresh start was needed for club and player. So, if Petracca wants out, then go, but only on our terms. The Demons’ view was for him to meet the Crows, but also be prepared to eat crow if it doesn’t happen.
Ideally, now is when Melbourne want Gold Coast to jump into the Petracca market.
The Suns are interested but, while Petracca has met with Damien Hardwick once, there has been no indication this week of wanting to meet with the club.
Melbourne want Gold Coast in the fray because they’d really like Bailey Humphrey and, if he were to be available in a trade, then a deal for Petracca could be done. The Demons really want Humphrey. Again. They wanted him in his draft year, and they have wanted him each year since he went to the Gold Coast.
Humphrey is also wanted by nine other Victorian clubs, and several others interstate. But, more importantly, he is wanted by the club he is contracted to play for over the next three years. Gold Coast are not interested to parting with Humphrey for Petracca or anyone else.
Which brings us back to Hawthorn. The Hawks will have a point at which they might have to accept what Essendon say and give up on getting Merrett, and contemplate Petracca or others. They are not there yet. And besides that, presently, other clubs are wondering if Petracca to Adelaide is a boat race.
The Crichton Medal night then could be decisive in what happens next and the ongoing appetite at Essendon for keeping their captain, or at least the chap who was captain this season, for it is unlikely that, even if he stays, Essendon or Merrett would want him to be captain next season.
If the Hawks pivot to Petracca, and they can entice him to talk to them (at the very least the chef might be attracted to a meal at Sam’s Place, given it’s a very popular eatery), then what does that look like for them in a trade? What do Hawthorn have to give up to turn Melbourne’s head? A key forward?
The Demons don’t necessarily need a second club to create a market for Petracca because he is in-contract, so they have no need to agree to anything he wants. But a second club with eagerness to find a deal can only help ramp up the trade price.
Essendon, meanwhile, are trying to attract players in a market where their best player and captain wants out because he’s had a gutful. That’s a hard sell.
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They will potentially get free agent Brayden Fiorini from the Suns, if he wants to go to them. Despite him being a free agent, Essendon would most likely do a low-level trade because they don’t want to dilute their free agency compensation for losing Sam Draper.
The Bombers also want Sam Flanders out of the Gold Coast, but the wrinkle there is that so, too, do St Kilda, and maybe Melbourne. Previously, the fact of St Kilda being interested would be like saying North are interested – of course they are, but that doesn’t mean they get the player. But the mood around going to the Saints has shifted. Money will do that.
Flanders is contracted to Gold Coast, and they are uninterested in trading him unless they bring a player in.
That brings us to Jamie Elliott, who is still seriously weighing a Gold Coast offer. Collingwood increased their offer to more than $600,000 per year for two years in recent days. The Suns are offering more per year and an extra season.
If Elliott went to the Suns, they would be more likely to trade Flanders out. The Suns are also eager to bring in James Rowbottom. That pair is their priority.
Could Flanders get to Essendon? The Bombers are only offering picks No.20 and 21, which doesn’t stack up against the Saints’ offer of pick No.7. Would the Bombers be prepared to part with pick No.5? That might be contingent on what pick they get for Draper.
It then falls back to where Flanders wants to go, and here is the thing: If he wanted to come to the Bombers, does it make them more open to the idea of trading Merrett? Probably not, because of what it still says about you as a club having your captain leave.
But then that all might depend on how you read the room on Thursday night.
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