\u2018Lip was quivering\u2019 \u2014 Merrett\u2019s \u2018raw\u2019 confession from trade fail as \u2018annoyed\u2019 Mitchell lifts lid<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cZach Merrett has today informed his teammates and the football club that he will step down as Captain ahead of the 2026 AFL Season,\u201d the club said. <\/p>\n
Merrett made a detailed statement on Wednesday morning, admitting the call had been \u201cweighing on my mind\u201d and that he\u2019d determined he was no longer \u201cthe right person\u201d to lead the club forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been an absolute honour to be the 41st Captain of the Essendon Football Club. Growing up, it was a childhood dream of mine running around the backyard in Cobden, and it has been an opportunity that my family and I are very proud of,\u201d Merrett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you told younger me I would get to Captain this club for three years, I would have pinched myself. It\u2019s been something I\u2019ve really enjoyed and loved doing. I\u2019ve really enjoyed being Captain to lead so many great current and past players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been weighing on my mind around who is the best person to lead this Club and group moving forward, and I feel like I\u2019ve come to the decision that I\u2019m not the right person. There\u2019s so much optimism, excitement and energy at the club, internally and externally, with the fans, changes with the High Performance Team, our new draftees, top-end talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like so much excitement and optimism and newness, and being such a young group, it is a great chance for a young leader to come in and grow with all the group moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to the club, and to Scotty for giving me the opportunity to captain the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to leave no stone unturned to make sure we play in that last Saturday in September.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merrett, who joined the Tullamarine club in 2013 as the 26th national draft pick, has played 251 games in 12 seasons for the red and black, earning three All-Australian selections since 2017. <\/p>\n
Roos & Lions prepare for AFLW GF | 02:24<\/p>\n
Essendon president Andrew Welsh also released a statement lauding Merrett\u2019s tenure as skipper. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of the Board and all Essendon members and supporters, I want to sincerely thank Zach for his immense contribution as our captain over the last three seasons,\u201d Welsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis tenure has coincided with a vital period of cultural growth for our club. His passion, elite standards, and dedication to his teammates and drive to win showcases him as one of the best on-field leaders in the AFL. This decision is an example of a selfless leader prioritising the best interests of the club moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cZach and I have had many long discussions recently and he is absolutely all-in on our vision and can clearly see the direction we\u2019re heading. He knows what we are building, and this decision supports that long-term goal with a focus on allowing the next wave of leaders to take control of this club. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile he steps away from the captaincy, his influence on this playing group will not diminish. He remains a critical leader for us, and we know he will be integral to leading the next phase of our journey on-field.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bombers, with Merrett in attendance, have returned to the Hangar for pre-season training. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon superstar Zach Merrett has stepped down from his captaincy position, the club confirmed on Wednesday. The move…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,689,3237,175432,61785,122945,11231,1119,2105,2485,9130,7492,3231,26596,677,701,175433,85,1133,25581],"class_list":["post-308655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-captaincy-position","tag-childhood-dream","tag-dyson-heppell","tag-essendon-bombers","tag-football-club","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-gold-coast","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-matt-roberts","tag-oceania","tag-queensland","tag-roos-ampampamp-lions","tag-sports","tag-trade-period","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308655","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=308655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}