{"id":695073,"date":"2026-05-26T06:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695073\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T06:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:05:12","slug":"not-going-to-be-pushed-around-anymore-dons-passionate-call-on-merrett-amid-trade-rumblings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695073\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Not going to be pushed around anymore\u2019: Dons\u2019 passionate call on Merrett amid trade rumblings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon president Andrew Welsh has passionately defended the club\u2019s polarising decision to deny ex-skipper Zach Merrett\u2019s trade request at the end of last season in the wreckage of senior coach Brad Scott\u2019s sacking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bombers on Tuesday confirmed the axing of Scott with another season to run on his deal following a horror stretch of one win from the club\u2019s last 24 games. <\/p>\n

Those woes while Essendon goes through a rebuild and prioritises unearthing young talent has raised questions on whether the club should\u2019ve granted Merrett his wish and moved the six-time All-Australian to Hawthorn for draft picks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Welsh emphatically rejected that idea.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The trade saga) was a challenging period, no doubt. But we\u2019re not going to be pushed around as a club anymore,\u201d Welsh said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was a step and a statement that we are clear in our direction and clear with our strategy and what we need to do to push this football club forward again.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Not in consideration at all | 23:13<\/p>\n

READ MORE <\/p>\n

\u2018True closure\u2019 call one of six Bomber blood options\u2026 but big names loom – Contenders<\/a><\/p>\n

Inside Dons\u2019 astonishing 6-week Scott backflip\u2026 and how \u2018asterisk\u2019 finished him <\/a><\/p>\n

Welsh said Merrett has been \u201camazing\u201d this year \u2014 both due to his on-field performance and \u201ctutelage to younger players.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Bombers president said he expects Merrett to remain at the club in 2027 despite trade rumours circulating the star midfielder again amid more adversity this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cZach is contracted until the end of next year. I don\u2019t see any other reason to why he won\u2019t be here next year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been enormous for our group, the protection on field he\u2019s been able to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckley, Longmire… or James Hird?! | 08:17<\/p>\n

Four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis thinks the Bombers made a mistake by not trading Merrett and said the club will only grow when its highly-touted young crop matures.<\/p>\n

\u201c100 per cent (they should have traded him), yep, absolutely. They missed an opportunity,\u201d Lewis said on SEN radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said this when Melbourne were going through it with Petracca and Oliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs good as those players and Zach Merrett has been at the Essendon Football Club, you enter into a marriage and once one of the partners signals that they want out \u2026 the relationship is still never the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the case with Essendon and they\u2019ve just delayed that another 12 months, and potentially delayed the development inside that locker room with him being there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bombers sack Brad Scott! | 08:34<\/p>\n

Injured Bombers skipper Andy McGrath, who replaced Merrett in the role, says he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d when he found out Scott had been sacked at the hospital after undergoing jaw surgery. <\/p>\n

\u201cGot a phone call this morning. In the hospital, unfortunately. It\u2019s obviously a really sad time for the playing group,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all got a really close connection with Brad, we love Brad and understand we live in a really brutal industry at times. Our support is with him at the moment and his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initial emotion is disappointment and sadness around the relationship you have with him and trust you build as a captain and a coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like we were putting together some really strong foundations, albeit, not showing it on the weekend too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it feels like the work we\u2019ve been putting together Monday to Friday has been really solid and is going to hold the group in great stead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon president Andrew Welsh has passionately defended the club\u2019s polarising decision to deny ex-skipper Zach Merrett\u2019s trade request…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,36846,107267,64,63,55,639,684,338869,696,6173,339048,11231,295599,1119,339051,339046,48340,339049,19080,11182,339045,339047,339050,22401,85,131222,199205,3254,25581],"class_list":["post-695073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-andrew-mcgrath","tag-andrew-welsh","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-cotton","tag-blood-options","tag-brad-scott","tag-club-legend","tag-despite-trade-rumours","tag-essendon-bombers","tag-failed-move","tag-football-club","tag-highly-touted-young-crop","tag-horror-stretch","tag-james-hird","tag-jaw-surgery","tag-jordan-lewis","tag-locker-room","tag-partners-signals","tag-passionate-response","tag-polarising-decision","tag-senior-coach","tag-sports","tag-tim-roberts","tag-trade-question","tag-trade-saga","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695073","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=695073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}