Charlie Curnow, Zach Merrett and Tom De Koning. Pictures: AFL Photos

THIS is how far Essendon and Carlton have slumped: the AFL’s free-to-air TV network refused to broadcast their Thursday night match on August 21, and no one was surprised, nor cared.

Ponder that for a moment. Channel Seven said no to a Bombers-Blues match. In primetime. 

These formerly mighty organisations once laid claim to being the biggest two clubs in the country. Contests between them were desperately anticipated and sought media events. Remember the famous 1999 preliminary final, and the 2000 one, and of course, the 1993 Grand Final. 

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There was compelling drama in seemingly every game, and there were rockstars everywhere. Kouta, Hirdy, SOS, Lloydy, Braddles, Mercs, Sticks, Fletch, Diesel, and so many more.

If you didn’t play or barrack for Essendon or Carlton, you wanted to, such was the mesmerising power and aura of their on and off field ways.

That was the very exciting then. It is a vastly different now. In the aftermath of ugly seasons, some of the few big names these clubs have managed to attract now want to exit. Free agents Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni are confirmed outs for the Blues, and two-time Coleman medallist Charlie Curnow wants to join them.

At Essendon, free agent Sam Draper is weighing up offers from double-chance finals teams Brisbane and Adelaide. Best-and-fairest winner Jordan Ridley, despite being contracted until 2029, wants out. Jayden Laverde is looking at options. 

But the biggest problem for Essendon is the continued, high-degree disillusionment of captain and five-time best-and-fairest winner Zach Merrett, who has simply been worn down by cumulative low ladder finishes and, not for the first time, is beginning an off-season with thoughts of exiting. 

Merrett is contracted until 2027. That will be the default public positioning by him and his club as the AFL calendar moves toward the official 2025 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period of October 6 to October 15. But with rival clubs, including Hawthorn, Collingwood and St Kilda, aware of his state of mind through their own contacts and pre-trade period dealings, the offers will continue to arrive.

Hawthorn may be the most intriguing club this off-season. It is very interested in Merrett, as well as Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters and Melbourne’s Christian Petracca.

Merrett will turn 30 in October and he is tired of Essendon both losing and making false promises, the most recent set being declared by David Barham three years ago when, having already been on the Bombers board for seven years, he rolled a president (Paul Brasher), a coach (Ben Rutten) and forced the exit of a CEO (Xavier Campbell). And then he appointed another CEO, Andrew Thorburn, on a Monday in early October 2022 and he was gone 30 hours later. Amid all the mayhem, Barham described himself as an “agent for some sort of change”.

Essendon president Dave Barham addresses the media on August 19, 2022. Picture: AFL Media

Drafted by the Bombers at the end of 2013, a season in which they had been banned from a finals series for their actions in a drugs program, Merrett has now played 251 matches for just 105 wins and four losing finals. 

In the days before the Essendon-Carlton match which Channel Seven couldn’t be bothered with, Essendon officials sat down with Merrett to discuss the future. Yet again. Last Friday, he met with coach Brad Scott as part of the Bombers players’ exit meetings, and he did not flag any intent of seeking a trade.

Essendon’s superpower status in the AFL era lasted longer than Carlton’s. The Bombers won the 2000 premiership, and lost the 2001 Grand Final. They have lost their past seven finals and their last finals win was a 2004 elimination final.

The Blues won the 1995 flag, and lost the 1999 Grand Final. There were 10 seasons of absences from finals between 2013 and 2023, when they returned to the top eight and eventually reached a preliminary final.

The sustained respective falls of these clubs can be traced back to self-inflicted operational disasters which broke AFL rules. For the Blues, it was a 2002 finding by the AFL that they were guilty of “deliberate, elaborate and sophisticated” salary cap breaches. For the Bombers, it was a drugs program in 2012 that was deemed by the World Anti-Doping Agency to be worthy of long suspensions for 34 players.

How these once mighty teams – which clashed in the 1993 Grand Final, an epic 1999 preliminary final and a 2000 preliminary final – have crashed, not just down the ladder and through the lens of the game’s free-to-air broadcaster, but more worryingly in the eyes of their own best players.

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