Barely 24 hours after Merrett spoke at the Brownlow, incoming president Andrew Welsh declared the Bombers\u2019 captain would remain at the club in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cZach\u2019s a required player, he\u2019s contracted to the club. So we won\u2019t be entertaining any trade for Zach,\u201d said Welsh in an interview on the Bombers\u2019 website.<\/p>\n
Welsh did not touch on the Merrett drama directly when addressing the function at the start of the night at Centrepiece on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Instead, the hard-nosed former midfielder and defender who played 162 games in the red and black was intent on turning the club\u2019s focus forward after the Bombers experienced a season devastated by an extraordinary injury count.<\/p>\n
Welsh said the 2025 campaign would never be a \u201cwasted season\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was undoubtedly unique year with the challenges we faced, but I reflect on it as a year of growth,\u201d Welsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m genuinely excited about what we\u2019ve been able to unearth this year, and watching the development of everyone who represented our club.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the scoreboard didn\u2019t always reflect our efforts, there\u2019s no such thing as a wasted season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe character built, the bond strengthened, and the foundations laid in 2025 will define this football club for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a year of growth, and growth is never easy, but it\u2019s always worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welsh, who retired in 2011, saved his boldest words until the end of his speech, when he made a rallying cry for unity.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy message applies to everyone in this room \u2013 from our players, coaches, staff and volunteers to our members and supporters: This is our time to galvanise,\u201d Welsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur foundations are set, and it\u2019s time to unite. We win together, we lose together, but we stick together, and when we stick together, we\u2019re a formidable club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our time. This is our moment, and we\u2019re about to embark on our greatest era. So let\u2019s get running. Go Bombers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merrett is seated on a table with young gun Nate Caddy, delisted big man Jayden Laverde, utility Matt Guelfi, and midfielders Jye Caldwell and Will Setterfield.<\/p>\n
Last week, Merrett also stressed that he understood that the club\u2019s best interests came first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m never, ever going to lose the love for the club and I understand they are going to fight for the club,\u201d Merrett said of the Bombers on Channel Nine.<\/p>\n
Merrett is striving to win the Crichton Medal for a third straight season, and the fifth time in seven years. He won his first best and fairest in 2016.<\/p>\n
More to come<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barely 24 hours after Merrett spoke at the Brownlow, incoming president Andrew Welsh declared the Bombers\u2019 captain would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-184804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184804","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=184804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}