How Zach Merrett’s escape plan blew up Essendon’s fragile rebuild

2 hours ago 1

Opinion

September 19, 2025 — 4.43pm

Zach Merrett’s desperation to escape from Essendon has blown up the shaky foundations of the David Barham-Brad Scott rebuild and resurrected the ghosts that have haunted the Bombers since the drugs scandal.

Not that those ghosts ever really died. This is a club that has long worshipped at the shrine of the individual so it is fitting that, despite the best efforts of the relatively new three-year regime, it has taken a controversial exit strategy by its driven but individualistic on-field leader to expose the cracks beneath the surface at Tullamarine.

Scott’s appointment as coach before the 2023 season was born in acrimony thanks to two of those individuals and legends of the club. Not only did four-time premiership coach and board member Kevin Sheedy publicly oppose the choice, but Sheedy’s preferred candidate James Hird believed he had Barham’s support to go for the job.

That Sheedy remained on the board after his public outburst against Scott for a further two years underlines how desperately Essendon has felt compelled to honour its legends. That Hird - who had worked as part-time coach at the Giants since leaving Essendon - felt he could return to the top job after overseeing the most catastrophic period in the club’s history, suggested a continuing lack of awareness.

Merrett, too, has demonstrated a poor grip on reality. Having blindsided his coach and teammates he seems genuinely shocked at the ensuing carnage and the acrimony that has come his way.

Reportedly warned by his management that he should steel himself against the ramifications of his attempt to move to Hawthorn, Merrett was dismayed by the negative comments that came from his teammates and the (correct) report about interfering with an AFLW training session because he wanted to practise goal kicking.

Essendon coach Brad Scott and David Barham.

This was an anecdote passed on - partly with amused affection - weeks before news of his meeting with Hawks coach Sam Mitchell became public. It underlined the captain’s drive and determination to get better. But now it feels like Essendon’s decision to tolerate Merrett’s individualism and build a future around his high standards and drive for success has backfired.

Because Merrett’s desire for a premiership, and his apparent lack of belief in his wider group of teammates and club bosses, have ultimately driven him away. Leaving coach Scott, president Barham and chief executive Craig Vozzo exposed and under intolerable pressure.

Barham’s occasionally passionate and emotional approach to the game and the club he loves has remained an unshakeable part of his make-up. On Friday, he was called out by a 1965 premiership player and one-time vice-president Ted Fordham, following a heated telephone conversation loaded with expletives back in July. The News Corp report said Barham was defending his coach after Fordham had criticised Scott at a Windy Hill premiership reunion after the narrow loss to Richmond, in a game described as one of the worst in the modern era.

Fordham is one in a long line of frustrated former players, staff and coterie members who have long broken ranks with the club and threatened its stability. Tullamarine bosses regard former longtime recruiting boss Adrian Dodoro, who parted ways with the Bombers last year after reaching a settlement with the club, as an ongoing influence.

How much more pain can star Bombers skipper Zach Merrett endure?

But the News Corp stories about Barham are troubling. Particularly in a year when former chairman Paul Little has publicly stated his willingness to return to the helm of the board. Although Hird has said he has no interest in coaching Essendon again Little still has faith in the notion of a Hird comeback. It is significant that vice–president Andrew Welsh, another potential successor to Barham, this week met Merrett.

And the captain’s controversial exit attempt has resurrected his rookie presidential misstep in briefly appointing Andrew Thorburn as CEO, who resigned over links to a church that had condemned homosexuality and abortion.

And there should be scrutiny on Barham and his board, and on Vozzo and Scott. Merrett is not the only player wanting out. Contracted former club champion Jordan Ridley is still seeking a trade and Sam Draper has gone, voicing on the way out his emotional and physical frustration with the injury toll that has curtailed his recent seasons. So have many of his teammates.

Players are questioning the training regime and why it has taken the club so long to change its high-performance program. Tim Watson suggested dissatisfaction between some players and coaches.
And Sam Mitchell’s parallel universe at Hawthorn has made it tough for clubs like Essendon, Carlton, St Kilda and North Melbourne because he has demonstrated how quickly clubs can rebuild with the right people in charge.

This might seem unfair in Essendon’s case because although Mitchell took over at an unstable time for Hawthorn it had been a shortlived shaky period. Eradicating a winning culture takes years, and Essendon’s struggles date back more than two decades.

There’s no love lost between Sam Mitchell and Essendon.

The collateral damage from the drugs scandal, including a determination to gratify star players which led to an over-correction, has added to the obstacles Scott faced in comparison with Mitchell. That the captain targeted, of all clubs, Hawthorn, and the coach who as a player taunted Cale Hooker by imitating an injecting procedure, and that he did so before the end of the season while preparing for his 250th game, has contributed to the emotional response.

Even now, Essendon are declaring they will not trade Merrett and the club remains disgusted at Hawthorn’s stated reluctance to “overpay” for the star midfielder, who turns 30 next month.

But there is no going back now. The Bombers would do well to leave aside their anger and disappointment as they move into trade wars and at least nullify this disaster.

Even though Scott chose Merrett as his on-field leader, the club has become accustomed to the player seeking feedback from all manner of industry leaders, including former Essendon captains and AFL coaches, from Mitchell’s predecessor Alastair Clarkson down.

This has been Merrett’s modus operandi for the past three years. Scott and his colleagues initially believed the reports linking him to Hawthorn - shortly after he had pushed to return from a broken hand in round 23 - were part of that annual routine.

Which is another reason the Bombers were blindsided. Now, although he remains in dialogue with vice-president Welsh and coach Scott, Merrett is not expected to front the Essendon best and fairest dinner early next month, which he looks certain to win. That, above all, underlines a club in crisis. And a board - three years after the most recent coup - under increasing pressure.

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.