Essendon Bombers legend James Hird thinks Zach Merrett will stay with the club; defender Ben McKay hits back at Matthew Lloyd’s criticism as unwanted record looms
Updated ,first published
Essendon great, former premiership captain and former manager James Hird thinks Zach Merrett will stay at the club despite his former star trying to defect to arch-rivals Hawthorn in the off-season.
Merrett, 30, was the Bombers’ best player in the Hawks’ 62-point thrashing at the MCG on Friday night, and just a few days later AFL.com.au And Footy Hidden Journalist Callum Twomey reports that the gunman is weighing up whether to re-join Essendon on a “multi-year deal”.
Hird, who coached Merrett at the Bombers in 2015 and was part of a delegation of former Red-Black captains who met with him midway through last season, said he “understood” the club had approached the two-time All-Australian about a new deal.
“I think everyone is tired of whether he’s going to stay or go,” Hird said. Footy Hidden Tuesday night.
“What’s the use of this? If he signs now, this will be over.” [the trade saga] – a stalwart, will remain at Essendon for the rest of his career. “I think it’s important for both Zach and Essendon to make that decision if they’re going to stay.”
Hird said he thought Merrett wanted to stay at Tullamarine.
“I don’t know [for sure] But… if the contract is in front of him and they want this story to be dead and buried and they want to move on, I think he needs to sign it.
“He doesn’t want to live this [a failed trade request] Again.
“If I were Zach Merrett, I wouldn’t want to go through what he went through at the end of last year.”
This imprint reported in January that Merrett had left manager Tom Petroro and returned to the previous management group following the 2025 trade window saga. Merrett also handed over the captaincy to Andrew McGrath.
Hird said Merrett’s status at Essendon could still be improved despite the events of recent months.
“If he stays, which he will, and if he’s going to take them to the leadership, not necessarily a prime ministership, but the beginning of this rise in two or three years… [saga] will be forgotten,” said Hird. Footy Hidden.
“If he’s seen as someone who actually stuck around and helped the club get back together to win the final, maybe that’s where he came from, he’ll be remembered as a great Essendon man.”
To talk Footy Hidden “I’d love to see Zach and the club,” Hird said last year, before Merrett’s ill-fated bid to buy Hawthorn reached the final stages of the swap window. [Essendon] make peace and return together.”
“I coached this guy. He’s a great person, a person with high integrity, who worked his ass off. He’s the hardest worker I’ve ever coached at any level,” Hird said.
“If I were Essendon and I was at Essendon right now, I would still be trying to reach him and get him in.”
Twomey said Merrett was looking at a new deal for “more than three years” to remain with the Reds and Blacks.
“He has a contract at Essendon until the end of 2027, but we can say that this new deal has been presented to him in recent weeks,” Twomey said.
“We expect him to be worth around $1.1-1.2 million per season. This will also mean an increase in his salary for 2027, with an increase in his salary for the remaining year.” [current] to agree.”
Twomey reported that Merrett “wants to play deep into his 30s” and that this new contract offer contains clauses that could take him there.
“Essendon did not do this on a whim or out of the blue… There have been talks back and forth for a number of weeks. He has worked with two different management groups over the last few months. “There has been more discussion about this in recent weeks as the manager has changed.
“This deal is in front of him; it’s up to him now to decide what he wants to do.”
‘I don’t care what Lloydy says’: Bomber rejects ‘lazy’ label
Jon Pierik
Essendon defender Ben McKay has taken aim at the club’s critics, insisting the Bombers are no slackers and remain one of the traditional four Victorian powerhouse clubs despite their waning relevance on the field.
The Bombers, who started the season after the 62-point defeat of arch-rival Hawthorn, are facing harsh attention again. They have lost 14 consecutive matches and their last win was in the Dreamtime Game in May last year.
It was equally the club’s second-longest losing streak, beaten by a 17-game losing streak in 2016 when they were subjected to persecution for a season-long drug suspension.
The club’s great star, Matthew Lloyd, accused several players of being “lazy” in comments on 3AW on Friday night; McKay denied that point when questioned Tuesday.
“Looking at it the last few days, we didn’t feel like it was laziness or lack of effort,” McKay, one of the Bombers’ best players, said Friday.
“As I said at the beginning, it was some of the decision-making and attention to detail that let us down. So yeah, I don’t care what Lloydy says.”
“He has his own opinion and we try really hard to listen to him.” [coach] Brad [Scott]Listen to Solly [assistant coach Dean Solomon]Listen to everyone in the house.
The rebuilding Bombers will face the Power in Adelaide on Sunday before taking on North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne. They won’t be seen again in prime time until the Dreamtime game against the Tigers on May 22.
Their failure to win a final since 2004 and a flag since 2000 prompted Richmond’s triple premiership Jack Riewoldt to suggest on Fox Footy that they were no longer among the traditional four Victorian powerhouse clubs with Carlton, Collingwood and the Tigers.
McKay said Riewoldt’s comments were ignorant but a warning.
“We’re actually a big club, so I’m not sure what Jack was talking about there. Look at the weekend, there were 75,000, 80,000 people.” [attendance] There. Our history is our history; We are very proud of this. You know, our turnout is amazing,” McKay said.
The Bombers, Magpies and Blues have won 16 VFL-AFL premierships each; this is a league record.
But McKay said the Bombers still have work to do to become relevant again when it comes to on-field results, as club officials noted in this byline.
“Yes, we want to be in the spotlight again in terms of on-field performance. And that’s the biggest selling point, right? Winning games. So I can understand [Riewoldt’s comments] from that perspective,” McKay said.
“We’re aware that when we win games, when we win finals, there’s going to be even more noise around us, in a good way. So in that respect, it’s something we strive for… but I think we’re clearly a big four club. I think it’s a bit of ignorance, yeah.”
Heading into Sunday’s clash, Scott is under pressure to find a defensive system with the likes of Mason Redman, skipper Andrew McGrath, Zach Reid and McKay as pillars.
While there are extenuating circumstances, including youth, as Scott points out, the Bombers have taken a combined 49 points from their defensive 50 in their last two home and away games; 26 points against Gold Coast and 24 against the Hawks in round 24 last year.
This is the third-worst stretch of any team in the last five years.
“I think it’s up to us old guys to lead the way, though. I mean, we can’t rely on the younger guys just because they’re highly selected. And we’ve made it pretty clear in the last few days that the leadership group and us old guys have to lead the way for them,” McKay said.
The Bombers are confident that dynamic small forward Isaac Kako (hamstring) will be ready to face Power.
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Jon Pierik is a sports reporter for The Age. He covers the AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect with: X or email.
