{"id":474814,"date":"2026-02-12T09:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474814\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:47:10","slug":"awkwardness-over-zach-merrett-opens-up-on-failed-trade-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474814\/","title":{"rendered":"Awkwardness over: Zach Merrett opens up on failed trade bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zach Merrett is not yet at the stage to seriously consider a contract extension at Essendon, but insists he has smoothed over any awkwardness following his failed bid to be traded to Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

Merrett is signed with Essendon until the end of 2027 but wanted to exit that deal during last year’s trade period so he could move to the Hawks.<\/p>\n

Essendon were adamant they would hold their skipper to his contract and even reportedly demanded up to four first-round picks and a future second-rounder from Hawthorn as part of their outlandish trade demands.<\/p>\n

Zach Merrett speaks with media ahead of AFL Origin.\u00a0Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The deal didn’t get off the ground leaving a lingering bitterness between Hawthorn and Essendon as well as straining Merrett’s relationship with the Bombers and some of his teammates.<\/p>\n

Merrett not only stepped down as captain in November but exited the club’s leadership group altogether.<\/p>\n

But the 30-year-old has been training hard with Essendon this pre-season and reports even emerged he was considering a contract extension beyond 2027.<\/p>\n

Merrett, in Perth this week ahead of Victoria’s State of Origin clash with WA, knocked back those reports but said he was open to listening.<\/p>\n

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“I wouldn’t say considering yet,” Merrett said.<\/p>\n

“I mean, there’s some openness to listen, as there always is when you’re on your back nine of your career, so to speak. You’re always open with what that could look like.<\/p>\n

“But nothing has progressed outside of a very preliminary chat.”<\/p>\n

When asked if he viewed Essendon as his long-term home, Merrett replied: “I’m still contracted for two years, so I still very much feel like they’re in charge of my career moving forward.”<\/p>\n

Merrett added he was pleased with the way Essendon had beefed up investment in their fitness department following the club’s injury struggles in recent years.<\/p>\n

When Merrett’s trade to Hawthorn became a fast-emerging story last year, Essendon players Mason Redman and Nic Martin publicly spoke about their disappointment about their skipper’s desire to leave.<\/p>\n

Martin even went as far as saying he felt hurt and a little bit angry.<\/p>\n

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Merrett feels like he has now smoothed things over.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think it was strained,” Merrett said of his relationship with Bombers players.<\/p>\n

“I think they, in a weird way, were really keen to keep me and wanted to play with me. So I wouldn’t say there were strained relationships.<\/p>\n

“I think no doubt there was a bit of awkwardness, just to start with, given that we went through those three months.<\/p>\n

“But to Mason and Nic, we had dinner before we went back to make sure that we were on the same page and I could be clear with what I went through and what they went through.<\/p>\n

“And from day dot we were back on the same page and cracking into the pre-season.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s an ever evolving space, the trade period and the way the game is going. It’s going to evolve more and more moving forward.<\/p>\n

“So hopefully when that does happen for other players, moving forward, we aren’t as critical of that player.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zach Merrett is not yet at the stage to seriously consider a contract extension at Essendon, but insists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-474814","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\/474814","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=474814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}