Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nKyle Langford, Mason Redman and the injured Nic Martin retain their spots in the leadership alongside new additions Sam Durham, Jye Caldwell and recruit Brayden Fiorini.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overwhelming approval from the playing group and coaching staff in naming Andy as our new Captain tells the story in itself, really,\u201d Essendon footy boss Daniel McPherson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a well-deserved achievement and a fitting honour for someone who\u2019s frequently set the example of exactly what an Essendon person should be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled for Andy and we know he\u2019ll handle the responsibility with the level of character and dedication we\u2019ve grown accustomed to seeing from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andy McGrath is Essendon\u2019s new captain (Pic: Michael Klein)Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
While Merrett was left out of the leadership group entirely, the club said the six-time best and fairest winner would continue to play an important role supporting the leadership group and mentoring the wider group.<\/p>\n
\u201cZach was consistently outstanding in his service as captain and did himself proud. Although he won\u2019t be in a formal role this season, he remains an integral person for our players to look up to and learn from,\u201d McPherson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t wait to throw our support behind Andy and the group as they lead our club forward to bigger and better things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merrett\u2019s trade saga capped off a turbulent season for the Bombers, who finished 15th on the ladder with six wins \u2014 including 13-straight losses to finish the injury-hit club\u2019s year.<\/p>\n
Essendon and Hawthorn entered negotiations for a Merrett trade but couldn\u2019t come to an agreement. It\u2019s unclear what the 30-year old will pursue the same move at the end of the 2026 season. <\/p>\n
It comes on the same day the Bombers confirmed chief executive Craig Vozzo has quit to be closer to family in South Australia <\/a>to continue a raft of changes in the club\u2019s leadership ranks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy McGrath will lead Essendon into the future after being announced as the club\u2019s new captain as part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,36846,64,63,689,55,639,684,19061,194133,81563,79155,11238,175470,194135,194130,12141,3255,36877,3032,677,193841,194132,25862,194134,1124,85,194131,3254,25581],"class_list":["post-353702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-andrew-mcgrath","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-cotton","tag-coaching-staff","tag-confirmed-chief-executive","tag-craig-vozzo","tag-daniel-mcpherson","tag-draft-pick","tag-failed-trade","tag-failed-trade-request","tag-integral-person","tag-jeremy-cameron","tag-leadership-group","tag-mason-redman","tag-nic-martin","tag-oceania","tag-pies-set","tag-revamped-seven-man-leadership","tag-sam-durham","tag-seven-man-leadership-group","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-trade-fiasco","tag-trade-saga","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353702","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=353702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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