Riggsy’s Lament: Merrett Gone, Maybe, But Never Forgotten

Of course it’s a Victorian powerhouse. Of course it is. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned supporting Essendon across four decades of heartbreak, administrative chaos and more Tribunal appearances than a mid-level criminal law firm, it’s that when something can go wrong for this football club, it absolutely, spectacularly will.

The reports are firm enough now to make your stomach drop if you’re a Bombers supporter: one of Victoria’s serial contenders has emerged as a genuine suitor for Zach Merrett, the former club captain, one of the classiest inside midfielders of his generation, and — let’s be honest — the kind of player Essendon grows once every fifteen years if they’re lucky. Get comfortable, folks. Riggsy’s processing again.

The Man Himself, First

Before we get into the geopolitical disaster that is Merrett’s football future, let’s just take a breath and appreciate what we’re talking about here. Zach Merrett is not some fringe player who found his level and sat there contentedly. At his best — and he’s had long stretches at his absolute best — he is an elite two-way midfielder who wins contested ball, hits targets by hand, and turns defence into attack in the blink of an eye. He captained Essendon during one of the rougher periods in recent memory, which is saying something given the competition for that particular title.

He’s the sort of player that, when he’s on your side, you barely notice how good he is. You only truly understand it when you imagine him on someone else’s. And here we are. Imagining it. Fabulous.

Why a Victorian Powerhouse Makes Perfect Sense — For Them

Look, I’m not going to pretend to be shocked by the logic here. When a club has built its entire identity around sustained contention — finals every year, premiership windows that never seem to fully close, lists that regenerate like some kind of football hydra — they’re always going to be in the market for proven midfield quality. That’s just the model. Find the elite players, acquire them, plug them into a system that already works, and keep the whole machine rolling.

\p>It’s smart list management, frankly. Annoying to acknowledge, but smart. These clubs don’t rebuild from scratch; they reload. And a player like Merrett — experienced, decorated, still with several peak years ahead of him — fits that blueprint perfectly. If you’re them, you’re making this call. I’d make it too, if I weren’t too busy crying into a scarf with a hole in the fringe.

The Essendon Dilemma Nobody Wants to Talk About Straight

Here’s the uncomfortable truth that Bombers fans need to sit with, and I say this as a man who has sat with more uncomfortable truths about this club than is medically advisable: if Zach Merrett is genuinely seeking a move, it isn’t purely about money. It never really is at this stage of a career for a player of this calibre.

It’s about September. It’s about the premiership window. It’s about looking at the back nine of your career and asking yourself where you want to spend those years. Essendon have been promising a return to finals relevance for a while now. There have been genuine signs under Brad Scott — the game style is cleaner, the young talent is real, the committment to the contest is evident. But signs and cirtainty are two very different things, and a Victorian heavyweight can offer something closer to certainty right now.

That’s not a knock on Essendon’s direction. It’s just the cold mathematics of where each club sits.

What Essendon Actually Do From Here

The Bombers aren’t completely without leverage, and I think this is important to remember when every football media outlet in the country starts treating this as a done deal. Merrett is contracted. Any deal requires Essendon’s co-operation, which means compensation, which means the club has a seat at the table whether the suitor likes it or not.

The question is how they use that seat. Do they dig in and make this as expensive as possible for the acquiring club, ensuring they extract maximum return for a player who has been central to everything good about Essendon’s midfield for the better part of a decade? Or do they respect Merrett’s service — and he has served this club magnificently, through some genuinely turbulent times — and facilitate something that works for everyone?

My gut says Essendon will try to do both, which in trade-speak means a hard but ultimately completed negotiation. Expect some theatre. Expect some pointed comments through the media. Expect the whole thing to drag out longer than it probably needs to. We’ve been here before, you and I.

The Broader List Rebuild Question

Here’s where I’ll put my tin-foil hat on, but just a small one. There is a version of this story where Essendon — quietly, deliberately — begins a recalibration of what their list looks like going into the next four years. Merrett’s departure, if it comes to that, would hurt. But the compensation picks, combined with the young talent already on the list, could accelerate something. Nic Martin is a genuine star. Jye Caldwell is evolving. The ruck stocks are developing.

Losing Merrett doesn’t have to mean going backwards if the club is surgical with what comes back and honest about where they’re headed. I’m not saying it’s painless. It would hurt enormously, and the midfield would have a noticeable gap in 2025 and probably 2026. But pain now versus pain later is a calculation clubs make, and Essendon has made worse calculations than this in far more spectacular fashion, believe me.

A Sentimental Moment, Forgive Me

I’ve watched a lot of Essendon players walk out the door over the years. Some deserved better than they got from us. Some were ready to go. A few left and immediately looked like they should never have been moved. Merrett, if this is indeed the end of his time at Windy Hill, falls into a category all his own: a player who absolutely gave this club everything he had, in conditions that would have broken lesser characters.

That 2016 season, when Essendon were returning from the supplements saga and playing kids and marginal players because the senior core had been wiped out — Merrett was magnificent. He finished third in the Brownlow that year. Third. With the team we had around him. That number alone should earn him a standing ovation every time he touches the ball from here until he retires, regardless of what jumper he’s wearing.

The Verdict From a Man Who’s Seen Everything

I’ve been an accidental expert on the AFL Tribunal and the MRO for years now — not by choice, I assure you, purely because supporting Essendon turns you into one out of sheer survival necessity. But trade sagas? Those I can also navigate now, with the weary authority of someone who has watched too many of them from too close a range.

This one feels real. The interest from the Victorian powerhouse feels genuine, not just trial-balloon stuff. Merrett’s future at Essendon is legitimately uncertain. And the club’s response over the coming weeks will tell us a great deal about where they really think they’re headed and how much they value the players who built the recent version of what they’re trying to become.

All I ask, as a fan who has been through the lot, is that however this ends — Merrett stays and we win a final, or Merrett goes and we get something useful back — someone at Essendon makes a good decision. Just one. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Is it?