Back in February, Essendon’s biggest media cheerleader, Mark Robinson, wrote an article in the Herald Sun entitled “Zach Merrett the uncompromising captain Essendon needed” after he was appointed to the role.
There was talk of taking after Virat Kohli or Kobe Bryant in his obsessiveness, being slightly unhinged, and pounding of the chest demanding excellence. Most of all, Robinson wanted to paint a picture of a fighter, an uncompromising prick, who would go to any length to see the Bombers succeed.
It was laughable at the time, of course, an ice-cold take. Merrett is a nice footballer. He can be a really good one, no doubt, but he’s a nice one all the same. Pretty. He’s a nice-to-have, not a must-have.
This was laid clear on Friday night against Collingwood, when the Bombers kicked three goals for the game having lost by 126 points to GWS the week before. They kicked eight goals in their last eight quarters of footy, lost both games by a combined 196 points, and this after they were fifth on the ladder halfway through July.
Zach Merrett, the uncompromising fighter, had three contested possessions on Friday night.
Three.
Out of a tally of 36 disposals. Three won in a contest. Three, that involved body contact.
Only three times in his career has Merrett had fewer contested possessions, all in his first 25 games. He’s now played over 200. He has never had a lower contested possession ratio in those 206 matches than he did on Friday night.
(Photo by Graham Denholm/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
And this is Essendon’s problem laid bare. It’s very difficult to turn soft players into hard ones. And this is not the sort of captain that is easily pictured on the premiership dais.
In Richmond’s three premiership years, skipper Trent Cotchin had a contested possession rate of 57 per cent. It’s a far cry from Merrett’s eight per cent against Collingwood when his team could only kick three goals.
Joel Selwood. Luke Hodge. Michael Voss. These are the sort of captains that inspire premierships and dynasties. Even lesser lights like Shannon Hurn, Easton Wood and Nick Maxwell, half-backs putting bodies on the line in front of leading forwards. Cameron Ling, a hard tagger. Sam Mitchell, in at the coal-face.
None of them just running around bruise-free, happy to get 30-35 soft touches, collect 15-20 Brownlow votes and win a few B&Fs.
But that’s Essendon.
Darcy Parish, nice player but completely unthreatening. Some of the numbers being thrown around for his next contract are eye-watering for the wrong reasons.
Andrew McGrath, nice player. Dylan Shiel, nice player. Dyson Heppell, nice player. Nic Martin, nice player. Mason Redman, nice player.
Not everyone can be a bull. You need inside and outside to complement each other. Running half-backs, as well as those with more physical courage. Uncontested wingmen and fierce-tackling pressure players.
Essendon is just far too over-endowed with one type of player, and not enough of the other.
Brad Scott, who coached 10 years of mediocrity at North Melbourne, is actually a perfect fit for the Bombers. The phrase “a match made in heaven” was invented for these two.
Ultimately, the ladder position flattered Essendon. They were gifted two games against each of West Coast and North Melbourne, two of the worst teams we have seen this side of Fitzory, and were given a push-start into the season by getting Hawthorn (16th) and Gold Coast (15th) in the first two rounds.
They only won another five matches of their remaining 17.
Don’t be fooled. This is not a club going anywhere.
And Zach Merrett’s performance against Collingwood is the reason why.
Teeko
Roar Rookie
haha what? You really think a professional club has no plans in the AFL? Essendon have clearly gone to the draft since 2020 and are continuing to do so. They have carefully managed the salary cap and are now able to target free agents, and have upgraded the list without spending any draft capital. This is the first time in awhile that I feel confident with the direction the club is going.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
The issues don’t lie with Zac Merrett. He was the right choice as captain but he can’t put a side on his back. I think you’ve given in to recency bias there Cameron. The Bombers were expected to be a bottom four team this year and they were on the fringes before a catastrophic second half of the year. The bombers need more players who fly the flag yes and it’s not an easy fix but I reckon if stringer can slim down in the pre season the bombers have the perfect opportunity to surge up the ladder
PriddisJunior
Roar Rookie
As has already been mentioned. Using 1 game (that already didn't matter) is a weak effort. It's probably just the only game Cam found time to watch last weekend... 1 more than you did though.
sunnycoasttiger
Roar Rookie
Is he wrong? Please explain.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Not sure whether it is leadership, but pretty sure they need about ten good players and then they may be a top four team.
PriddisJunior
Roar Rookie
Or at least aim to be right for once.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Agreed. Not enough players willing to have the hard conversations in recent years.
Jutsy
Roar Rookie
The comment re Goddard and merretts similarities and why that rubbed players the wrong way is spot on. Bit of a sliding doors moment at start of 2016, keep goddard as captain after he did a valiant job with merrett as his lieutenant in 2016 or go for the easy marketing win and dump it on a young Heppell. Ofcourse we chose the latter option. Im not going to get too optimistic but it does sound like scott wants to correct this culture, just hope the board has the patience to back him long term.
JamesH
Roar Guru
And so, the chronic underrating of Zach Merrett continues. You couldn't be more wrong about Merrett. And by cherry picking one specific stat in one specific game, all you do is undermine your case. Dig a little deeper - honestly, not even particularly deep at all - and you'll notice that this game as a whole was bruise-free. Only two players on the park notched double-digits in contested possessions. De Goey and Daicos, who were lauded as two of the best on the ground, had 6 and 5 contested possessions respectively. It was a meaningless, fizzer of a match. Essendon's season was dead in the water before they set foot on the park, and the contest itself was over at quarter time. The intensity completely dropped away because the Bombers couldn't win it and Collingwood didn't want injuries. Both sides ended up well below their season averages for contested possessions. Yet this is the game you pick to tell us all that Merrett is not a leader? Despite all that, Merrett was one of the few in red and black who played like he cared. He got the footy more than anyone else, gained more metres than anyone else (at 83%), had more score involvements than anyone else and laid 5 tackles. In other words, he played his role as an outside midfielder. It wasn't his job to be on the bottom of packs. He's capable of doing it, but Essendon at the moment has plenty of the in-and-under types. It was his job to receive, spread and deliver the football, which he did very well. You might as well criticise Taylor Adams for not taking enough contested marks. And it's a shame you picked this path to go down, because your general observation about the club being to soft, too nice and lacking leadership is 100% correct. But the problem isn't Merrett; he's not even a symptom. The problem is that there is no one else who seems to have the willigness and the ability to go with him - as demonstrated by too many of his teammates meekly surrendering on Friday night. You say that Merrett doesn't fit the playing mould of the best leaders of the modern era, and you're right. There aren't many outside midfielders who have been hailed as great captains because it's hard to pull off that team-lifting play from outside the contest. But I'd counter with two arguments. Firstly, what Essendon needs even more than inspirational on-field play is someone who will set standards. Someone who won't accept shortcuts or a lack of professionalism, and wants to drive a shift in the culture. That's Merrett. That's the guy who got kicked out of the club's leadership group a few years ago by a bunch of entitled senior players for being too demanding. Since Brendon Goddard left the club I can't think of anyone else who meets that criteria. And that brings me to my second point: who the hell else is going to lead the club forward? Parish? Too selfish (6 years lol). Shiel? Too introverted. McGrath? Too young, and still has to fix flaws in his own game. Laverde? I'm not convinced he'll still be the best 22 in 2 years' time. The only names you could sensibly put forward are Redman, Ridley and Langford. Redman, as much as I love his passion, still lacks the discipline to lead. Not even bothering to put your hands up when you're standing the mark doesn't scream 'non-negotiable standards'. That leaves Ridley and Langford, both of whom I think could potentially do it, but neither of them fit the mould you've suggested either. Essendon will never be more than mediocre until the players themselves buy into a cultural change. And Merrett is the only one with the demonstrated capability to be at the centre of driving that change.
Jutsy
Roar Rookie
I used to think the same re dodoro but how does one person last so long when we’ve been through so many coaches/presidents/ceos? Last year left a bad taste in my mouth with the way sheedy/dodoro threw their toys out of the cot following the internal review findings. I think we need a fresh start where the spectre of the sheedy era is no longer hanging over the club.
Aransan
Roar Rookie
I liked Parish, but he is overrated. Efficiency is poor, kicks to opposition players or out of bounds on the full. Pity he took that mark in front of Walla followed by the kick yielding the inevitable point. There is too much obsession with Dodoro, I am confident that the right decision will be made by those responsible and I won’t pretend I know what that is.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Be nice, Cam!
Jutsy
Roar Rookie
Agree with others though, how does one man remain a constant at the club through 20 years of mediocre results. We are lacking in key skills all over the ground. Good kicks (i would only trust merrett, Martin and ridley to hit a barn door). Big bodied defenders, ruckman/mids that can take a mark on the wings, fast small forwards, grunt in the midfield (I do like hobbs though, he is the most non essendon mid we have selected in a long time.).
Jutsy
Roar Rookie
Agree overall that the list is lacking in contested beasts and leadership but merrett isnt the problem. Cherry picking one game at the end of long season is disingenuous, he is not built to be an inside player (5 cm and almost 10kg smaller than cotchin) he serves the team best on outside yet he cracks in and puts his hand up to play inside when the our midfield depth was exposed once shiel/setterfield/parish went down. And unlike parish/shiel he is happy to moved back/forward too to help team balance too (against carlton he turned the game in the 3rd quarter when he moved forward to break curnow tag). Merrett has been kicked out of the leadership group in the past for guys like daniher and fantasia because he has rubbed players the wrong way with his blunt feedback but im glad scott bucked the trend of woosha and truck and made him captain as he was one of the few positives this season.
Ando7369
Roar Rookie
Don’t like the bombers,but have some decent players need add few but will make finals next year
DJCJ
Roar Rookie
Bombers fan for over 40 years.....could not agree with you more! The list has been generally soft since Sheedy left. Knights wanted lithe fast runners in his side to play his kamikaze style. Hird came in and was very concerned about lack of size and hardness...got impatient so with Bomber, then bought in Dean Robinson who beefed up Geelong to kick off their golden era, who then bought in he who shall not be named!....Then hard man Worsfold surprisingly carried on with the 'nice' mantra (New 'optics' for the naughty club maybe!?) And same under Rutten. The club has not had a superstar elite 'household' name since Lloyd retired in 2009 (apologies to Jobe Watson maybe) Dodoro hangs his hat on spotting bargains (Wright, Snelling, Martin, Saad etc.) but his use of first round picks over the past 20 years has been dreadful! This is a team more conducive to a cricket team. No easy fix......no opportunity for a premiership for at least 5-7 years. Think I'll follow lawn bowls.
Steele
Roar Rookie
Here here, may the misery continue!!
Ruff1970
Roar Rookie
Please don’t change Essendon. Continue to allow Sheedy to pull the strings from the board. Please continue to allow Dodoro to control trades and drafting (and in the process arrogantly refuse to deal with other clubs and make ridiculous ambit claims for trades). Please don’t change
Macca
Roar Rookie
I said last week that while lost of people love to take pot shots at clubs that unveil 5 year plans, the Bombers are a prime example of what happens when you don't have one.
Don
Roar Rookie
I know Brad Scott will have considerable influence in recruitment, but seriously, how can you have a clean out and not include Adrian Dodoro under the broom? The team is an outcome of his planning, recruitment and retention. You just wouldn't have him near potential new recruits and certainly wouldn't be looking for his opinion? And FFS get rid of the "Dodcast" from the Bombers website where you can subscribe and listen to "Adrian Dodoro shares untold draft and trade stories and insights from his 22 years of leading the Bombers' recruiting team."