trade speculation continues to bubble around the contracted Merrett<\/a>, who\u2019s being tipped to request a move away from the Bombers at season\u2019s end after his bid to join Hawthorn last year fell over on deadline day.<\/p>\nA six-time best and fairest winner, three-time All-Australian and former club captain, Merrett is widely regarded as a club great who\u2019s given terrific service to the Bombers ever since being drafted with Pick 26 in the 2013 draft.<\/p>\n
But speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s On The Couch on Monday night, Brown suggested Merrett\u2019s body language reflected how emotionally exhausted he\u2019d become.<\/p>\n
Brown pointed to four passages of play from the Lions-Bombers clash on Sunday, which you can watch in our video player above.<\/p>\n
It showed Merrett not win critical contests against Lions trio Darcy Wilmot, Ryan Lester and Eric Hipwood, as well as failing to run defensively to keep first Lester, then Logan Morris, accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel for the Essendon supporters. It\u2019s been a tough run,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI was a Fitzroy supporter growing up, so I understand what they\u2019re going through. It would be so frustrating. That (on Sunday) was like watching a training run.<\/p>\n
Zach Merrett against the Lions.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard when you see your former captain (Merrett) \u2013 and arguably your best player out there \u2013 giving out the impression that he\u2019s not trying and not caring.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, of course he\u2019s \u2018trying\u2019, we know that. But imagine how defeated he must feel inside himself. It only portrays itself in behaviours like this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m watching the game and going: \u2018Geez have a look at him. It looks like he\u2019s not trying and not caring.\u2019 And I know Zach Merrett wouldn\u2019t be like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s given great service to the footy club, but you go: What hope have you got?\u201d<\/p>\n
Seven-time All-Australian Nathan Buckley suggested Merrett might\u2019ve hit a \u201ctipping point\u201d over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know him well enough to know that he has carried an enormous amount of pride in his own performance and that of his team \u2013 and potentially that pride is what results in efforts like this at times,\u201d Buckley said on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving had some experience with it \u2026 1999 was not a great year at Collingwood and we didn\u2019t win a lot. But having not played finals for about eight or nine years at Collingwood, I know the emotional and mental toll that it can take. Patty Cripps would have been there a couple of years ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019ve been such a high performer and you\u2019ve stayed the course and you\u2019ve been through a couple of iterations and a couple of coaches, there is a breaking point. Everyone has a breaking point \u2013 and I think we might have seen it with Zach on the weekend.<\/p>\n
Zach Merrett of the Bombers handpasses as he is tackled by Noah Answerth. Picture: Russell Freeman\/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to stay that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckley said Essendon\u2019s priority should be giving Merrett and the group a renewed sense of purpose for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is their hope in the next six weeks? You need to be able to reframe it in some shape or form,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDean Solomon isn\u2019t talking about that, but it\u2019s easier said than done when you\u2019re reframing with the experiences that Essendon have had \u2013 not just over the last couple years, but through Zach Merrett\u2019s entire career, largely. Now it\u2019s about: \u2018OK, what\u2019s the next iteration for him and for the club?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you invest so much, I think then you get the equal and opposite effect, which is what we saw (on Sunday night) \u2013 because Zach Merrett is beyond reproach in terms of the investment that he\u2019s made to his football club and his footy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether the Bombers needed to have an \u201chonest conversation\u201d with Merrett about where he was mentally \u2014 and what it meant for his future \u2014 Brown said: \u201cWould Zach Merrett want that though? Because the likelihood that he leaves at the end of the year \u2026 would he want to end that way for the footy club?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s still got pride in his performance \u2026 and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon sees lessons in defeat | 05:55<\/p>\n
AFL legend Leigh Matthews said Essendon\u2019s prolonged struggles were taking their toll on Merrett, but urged the Bombers to return their star midfielder to his preferred position.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe result tends to be you lose hope, you lose energy and it looks like you\u2019re not trying and can\u2019t run,\u201d Matthews told On The Couch. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the cycle of Essendon because they\u2019re stuck in that cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWouldn\u2019t you be putting him (Merrett) in a key role? Forget about the flanks \u2026 They\u2019re trying to be competitive. So put your best player in his best position and see if he can get the best out of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, there\u2019s been a bit of look for the future, getting the younger guys into the centre square \u2013 and I understand that. But right at the moment, you\u2019re just trying to find a little bit of hope by being competitive in games. So getting the best out of your individuals by playing them in their key spots would seem the logical way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown says Zach Merrett, at times on Sunday night, looked like he was \u201cnot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-798607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798607","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=798607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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