{"id":136661,"date":"2025-09-12T02:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T02:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/136661\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T02:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T02:38:08","slug":"hawthorn-hawks-president-andy-gowers-makes-no-apology-after-coach-sam-mitchell-meets-essendon-captain-zach-merrett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/136661\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawthorn Hawks president Andy Gowers makes \u2018no apology\u2019 after coach Sam Mitchell meets Essendon captain Zach Merrett"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat I would say to all members and fans is we make no apologies for wanting to improve. Multiple conversations happen within the club let alone outside. We are always looking to improve our list.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all grown ups, everybody knows these things go on. I can\u2019t confirm if Sam Mitchell met with Zach Merrett – I actually don\u2019t know as I\u2019m not at the coalface.<\/p>\n

\"Testing<\/p>\n

Testing times: Essendon coach Brad Scott and skipper Zach Merrett.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know Hawthorn is doing all it can to get better. We have to look at free agency, trading and the draft, and we will explore all three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott said on Fox Footy this week he did not like the way the Hawks had operated in this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook we\u2019ve all got to accept that the old school, the old timers, we probably have a problem with it,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the second club captain Sam Mitchell has met with in one year. The difference is our club captain is contracted for another two years. So, I think you\u2019ve got to accept that players are going to do this and now coaches are doing it. But I think the reality is that Zach\u2019s a process-driven guy. He\u2019s got a checklist, he\u2019ll go through his process, he likes to come to his own conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"On<\/p>\n

On the hunt: Hawthorn president Andy Gowers.Credit: Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n

Gowers said, as a supporter, he would be angry if the Hawks were not chasing rival talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Sam is getting the headlines and Merrett is too, but we have a whole department that looks after recruiting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not making any apologies. These conversations, I can\u2019t confirm if it happened or didn\u2019t, I honestly don\u2019t know. I would be frustrated as a member or fan if we weren\u2019t looking to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gowers denied the Merrett fireball had impacted the Hawks\u2019 on-field focus this week.<\/p>\n

The Bombers remained adamant on Friday Merrett would not be traded, but he may have to cede the captaincy should he remain<\/a>. His bond with teammates is also strained, injured forward Nic Martin telling this masthead he was disappointed and a \u201clittle bit angry\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martin said, \u201cwe are going to have to build the bridge again\u201d. <\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

The Bombers are in the awkward situation of having to determine whether Merrett attends their best-and-fairest count on October 2 if the impasse has not been resolved. Merrett is a five-time winner, and is likely to claim his sixth Crichton Medal.<\/p>\n

In his 12 seasons with the club, the Bombers have made the finals four times \u2013 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2021 \u2013 but lost in the opening week each time.<\/p>\n

Injury-riddled defender Jordan Ridley is another Bomber weighing up his future, and has met with the Brisbane Lions. Ridley is frustrated by the number of repeat soft-tissue injuries he has endured.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat I would say to all members and fans is we make no apologies for wanting to improve.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-136661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}