![\"Zach](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/b088c0d762f689855cda5ec1ab5cf7077011b4f9.jpg\")
Camera IconZach Merrett, during a press conference at Kent Street Senior High School, in Kensington, Perth. Ross Swanborough Credit: Ross Swanborough\/The West Australian<\/p>\nEssendon star Zach Merrett has confirmed he is open to extending his tenure with the Bombers, but has stopped short of guaranteeing his long-term future at Windy Hill.<\/p>\n
The Victorian downplayed any notions of tension upon his return to Essendon in pre-season, or over the presence of Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell on Victoria\u2019s coaching staff.<\/p>\n
AFL.com reported last week the 30-year-old was open to a contract extension at Essendon after a trade to Hawthorn fell through and there had been preliminary talks between his management and the Bombers about an extension beyond the his current deal, which expires in 2027.<\/p>\n
Merrett said his full focus this week was on helping Victoria beat WA, but discussions with Essendon were in their infancy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that was briefly spoken about through the last few months, clearly not something I\u2019m thinking about these few days, being away with Victoria, but something that will be ongoing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to get back and play really good footy and make sure I continue to show up and be a good player for the footy club, and I\u2019m sure those things will take care of themselves in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n
But having stepped down as captain in the wake of his failed move to the Hawks, the 30 year-old was eager to stress he was hearing out the club, more so than pursuing a contract extension at this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say considering (it) yet. There\u2019s some openness to listen, as there always is, when you\u2019re on your back nine of your career.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always open with what that could look like but nothing has progressed outside of a very preliminary chat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell was part of an aggressive pitch to recruit Merrett in the off-season, but the six-time Essendon fairest-and-best winner said the Hawthorn\u2019s coach role in Victoria\u2019s Origin preparations did not present a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at all. Doesn\u2019t affect good or bad. He\u2019s another coach. Having Chris (Scott) there as a head coach is someone I\u2019m really keen to learn off as much as I can within these two or three days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Merrett expressed his satisfaction with the Bombers\u2019 off-season, which has included a new chief executive and revamped fitness department.<\/p>\n
Camera IconZach Merrett, during a press conference at Kent Street Senior High School, in Kensington, Perth. Ross Swanborough Credit: Ross Swanborough\/The West Australian<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still contracted for two years, so I still very much feel they\u2019re in charge of my career moving forward. The way we\u2019ve shifted and evolved and compounded some really good decisions in the pre-season, off-season, look really pleasing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He denied any strains in relationships at the club, particularly with teammates Mason Redman and Nic Martin after they both publicly expressed disappointment in his decision to seek a trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say there was strained relationships. No doubt there\u2019s a bit of awkwardness just to start with, given what we went through those three months but to Mason and Nick\u2019s credit, we had dinner before we went back to make sure we\u2019re on the same page,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel pretty comfortable walking back into the club. I get the the outside noise, and people having opinions what I should do with my life.<\/p>\n
![\"Merrett](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/7907b7480690478c868b109f45c359d5abfe1723.jpg\")
Camera IconMerrett leads Essendon out before the 2025 AFL Round 24 match against Gold Coast Suns. Credit: Matt Roberts\/AFL Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I knew that (returning to Essendon) was a really live possibility, and probably a high percentage chance I was going to be going back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merrett said being in the eye of the media storm was a tough experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an ever-evolving space, the trade period and the way the game is going, it\u2019s going to evolve more and more moving forward. Hopefully when that does happen for other players moving forward, we aren\u2019t as critical of that player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe media there, 99 per cent is incredible and is a great part of our ecosystem and supports the game in an incredible way. There\u2019s one per cent that isn\u2019t so nice but we get paid extremely well, we get to live out our dream, and those T\u2019s and C\u2019s of media come with that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon star Zach Merrett has confirmed he is open to extending his tenure with the Bombers, but has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,49082,64,63,55,639,11231,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-474899","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-sport","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474899","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=474899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}