{"id":357297,"date":"2025-12-19T01:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T01:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/357297\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T01:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T01:58:10","slug":"essendon-star-zach-merrett-named-for-victoria-in-afls-state-of-origin-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/357297\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon star Zach Merrett named for Victoria in AFL\u2019s State of Origin return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zach Merrett\u2019s first game since his dramatic failed trade attempt<\/a> will be for Victoria, not Essendon<\/a>, after he was selected for February\u2019s State of Origin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chasing success, Merrett attempted to leave the Bombers, while still their captain and contracted until the end of 2027, to join Hawthorn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Zach Merrett to play for Vics in State of Origin.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

The three-time All-Australian left the Bombers reeling when it emerged he had met with Hawks coach Sam Mitchell<\/a>, with Merrett making it clear he wanted to leave Essendon.<\/p>\n

The Hawks were ultimately unable to satisfy the Bombers with a deal and six-time best and fairest winner Merrett had to walk back into Essendon.<\/p>\n

He later admitted he lost \u201clove and connection\u201d to the club, leading to his failed trade request, and relinquished the captaincy last month, with Andrew McGrath taking on the role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ZachZach Merrett is the latest big name to be selected for next year’s State of Origin clash in Perth. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

One of the game\u2019s classiest midfielders, Merrett is a three-time All-Australian and joins a star-studded Victorian midfield.<\/p>\n

Funnily enough, he will link up with Hawthorn coach Mitchell, who is a part of the Victorian coaching set-up.<\/p>\n

That scenario will be made a tad more awkward as Victoria\u2019s head coach is Chris Scott … the twin brother of Brad Scott (Essendon\u2019s coach) who Merrett obviously attempted to leave in the lurch at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

Merrett is under contract at Essendon until the end of 2027 but another attempt to join Hawthorn at the end of 2026 has not been ruled out.<\/p>\n

It sets up an interesting triangle when the Vic players and coaches come together in February with Chris Scott certain to be watching closely the interactions between Merrett and Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Geelong\u2019s superstar captain Patrick Dangerfield is also among the seven inclusions announced on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up I dreamt of playing footy, winning premierships and representing Victoria, so when Chris gave me a call to be a part of the return of Origin, I jumped at the opportunity to finally pull on the Big V,\u201d Dangerfield said.<\/p>\n

Fremantle gun Caleb Serong and Western Bulldogs breakout star Ed Richards have also been named in the Victorian team.<\/p>\n

Hawthorn backmen Josh Battle and Blake Hardwick and GWS running defender Lachie Ash round out the latest group of inclusions.<\/p>\n

Western Australia will host Victoria at Optus Stadium on February 14.<\/p>\n

– With 7NEWS.com.au<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zach Merrett\u2019s first game since his dramatic failed trade attempt will be for Victoria, not Essendon, after he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,49082,64,63,55,639,11231,1625,3863,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-357297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-afl-state-of-origin","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-essendon-bombers","15":"tag-lifestyle","16":"tag-sponsored-content","17":"tag-sport","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357297","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=357297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}