Mason Redman and Zach Merrett after Essendon’s loss to Adelaide in R2, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

ESSENDON defender Mason Redman is “disappointed” his captain Zach Merrett is exploring a trade to Hawthorn, saying Merrett’s meeting with Hawks coach Sam Mitchell has far-reaching impacts on the Bombers.

Redman also hit back at suggestions there was a connection issue between Essendon players and coach Brad Scott.

Merrett, who has two years to run on his contract at Essendon, met with the Hawks on Tuesday as he makes clear his interest in moving away from the club, with Redman’s frustration clear.

Mason Redman and Zach Merrett after Essendon’s loss to Geelong in R22, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

“From my point of view, the initial thought is disappointment. Irrespective of the injury issues we’ve had this year, which derailed our on-field progress, I feel like off-field we were really making some inroads into making the club a great place to be around,” Redman told AFL.com.au on Thursday.

“It’s [a feeling of] disappointment that our captain, who is supposed to be leading us through this, is exploring other options.”

Redman has been a teammate of Merrett’s since arriving at the Bombers in 2015 and was in the club’s leadership group this season. The 28-year-old said he hadn’t contacted Merrett since the Hawthorn meeting was revealed and that he would want him to stay and not be traded in the upcoming exchange period. 

“I haven’t spoken to him. To be honest, whenever you go through tough periods of anything you have thoughts pop into your head about all sorts of scenarios. I certainly don’t begrudge him for having those thoughts,” he said.

“But myself being a leader, or the captain of the football club in his scenario, you have to potentially think about things differently because it’s not just you that this impacts, it’s the whole club. It’s ‘Scotty’ [Brad Scott] as the coach, it’s us as players, and all the fans as well.

“He’s the best player I’ve ever played with, so of course you want him to be at the club and at this moment in time he’s my captain. With that being said though, it remains to be seen if that’s the way it works going forward.”

The club was blindsided by Merrett’s catch-up on Tuesday night with Mitchell and Hawks officials, but were aware of the champion midfielder’s interest in looking for a new home. The Bombers board on Monday resolved not to trade him, a stance reiterated by Scott and CEO Craig Vozzo over the past 24 hours. 

Mason Redman during Essendon’s game against GWS in R18, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

Redman said he had spoken to some teammates, who had also shared frustration around the turmoil enveloping Essendon again, but wasn’t drawn on whether Merrett could retain the captaincy if he remained at the Bombers. 

“Right now Zach’s my captain. That’s not a decision for me. Scotty summed it up the other night. At this stage he’s the captain of our football club and until that changes it’s not really for me to have an opinion on,” he said.

“It might seem like, in a way of putting it, the world exploding but to be honest when we come back hopefully Zach is there as a player, but if he’s not then we’ll still get to training whenever we get back at the end of the off-season. We’ll see how it goes.”

Essendon great Tim Watson on Thursday raised potential issues about relationships between players and Scott, saying on SEN: “I have got concerns about, if all these players are complaining, and this is what I am hearing, they are complaining about relationships and that type of thing within the football club.”

Redman said he had kept in touch with Scott in recent days and that he shared a strong bond with his coach, having re-signed for five years as a free agent in 2023. 

“I think it’s quite unfair for anyone who is not within the four walls of the club to comment on those things. I can only speak from my perspective and I have a great relationship with Scotty. Irrespective of our performance on the field, off the field I felt like – and do feel like – we’ve made great strides in the culture piece. I completely back Scotty going forward,” he said. 

“I’ve spoken to him the last couple of days and we had a great chat and definitely in my time at the club we’ve had areas culturally we’ve had to work on and we’ve been making great strides in that area.”

Redman approached the Bombers and was keen to publicly support the club as it worked through the instability of key players considering departures.  

“There’s a lot of people talking outside the club and it stirred me up as a player of the Essendon Football Club, someone who cares about the football club deeply, that people outside of the four walls are ripping at the fabric of what we’re trying to create internally and I felt I had to speak up,” he said.

“I believe greatly in the young group that we’ve got and I felt like as a leader I needed to come out and show that solidarity with the club, Scotty and the playing group.”

Zach Merrett during Essendon’s game against Geelong in R22, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

Ruck Sam Draper is leaving the Bombers as a free agent, likely to Brisbane, and the Lions are also keen on defender Jordan Ridley, who has four years left to run on his deal at Essendon. Redman, a defensive ally of Ridley, has been in touch with the 2020 best and fairest winner about his plans and encouraged him to stay the course with the Bombers’ new fitness and medical team.

“When you go through tough periods in your job or any part of your life, thoughts pop into your head and no doubt thoughts have popped into his head based on his injury history and how he’s going with his body and whether Essendon is the right place for him,” he said.

“To be honest as a friend of ‘Rids’, I think he would be doing a disservice to himself not to have those thoughts because his body has let him down on a number of occasions. 

“However, what I’ll continue to say to him in coming days is the club is making moves in that area, we’ve got Mat Inness on board and David Regan as well, so we’ve bolstered that area and that is the area he’s most worried about. It shows the club is not just sitting on its hands.”