Why the first, late bid of the Hawthorn Hawks just doesn’t cut it for the Essendon Bombers in the Zach Merrett stakes
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Tuesday night’s 7pm deadline for Essendon to accept the draft part of the offer may or may not be a bluff. However, this is not seen as the best way to negotiate unless you are a) looking for a player on contract and b) not offering a single player of value, i.e. a player with the possibility of improving Essendon or making the Bombers great again.
Hawthorn were understandably hesitant to put players on the altar as sacrifices for Merrett. The Hawks don’t want to cause an upset in their own playing group.
Is Cam Mackenzie really available? If they haven’t already, Hawthorn should stand up to him and let him know if that’s the case.
It is hypocritical to undermine the internal integrity of another club and then not even want to consider a much less disturbing conversation with your own players.
It’s not as if Essendon want Will Day or Jai Newcombe.
Is Mitch Lewis a chance? If so, the Hawks should hurry up and include him in the Merrett trade. It doesn’t help that Sam Mitchell is overseas and not in a good position to have tough conversations.
Pick #9 is good, but the other picks offered are problematic. If Hawthorn land Merrett, there will be academy offers etc in the first round of 2026. Afterwards, they can be in the 16-20 range; In fact, this would be the likely outcome.
Second rounders aren’t worth much in this scenario.
The trades of some big names will come down to the last day.Credit: Era and agencies
The deal is not improved by the addition of a secondary draft pick and a player who did not play senior year at Hawthorn.
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It’s surprising that both Hawthorn and Geelong (for Charlie Curnow) are so reluctant to bring in half-decent players in trade, or are not willing to entertain valuable players much earlier, so to speak. To be fair to the Cats, they are not as determined towards Curnow as Hawthorn were towards Merrett.
Sydney, meanwhile, are preparing to make an offer for Curnow that the Blues could approve, but issues remain as of late Tuesday. The Swans at least put Will Hayward and (the less interesting) Ollie Florent on the sideboard with the selections.
Trading Merrett at 7:28 p.m. for a first-round pick and a player who came out of nowhere on Wednesday wouldn’t be beyond the pale. Or for a third higher pick.
But what was first revealed weeks after Merrett’s meeting with Sam Mitchell broke was never going to placate the furious Bombers.
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