Just hours from the AFL Trade Period deadline, Essendon have rejected Hawthorn’s trade proposal for Zach Merrett, as the most dramatic player move of the off-season drags on.
The Bombers, all the way up to new President Andrew Welsh, have remained adamant Merrett would not be traded since a bombshell dinner with Hawks coach Sam Mitchell set into motion more than a month of rumours, public disputes and private leaking that has left all parties at loggerheads.
A Tuesday offer from the Hawks to give up pick 9, a 2026 first-round pick, a second-rounder either this year or next, and fringe midfielder Henry Hustwaite, given with a 7pm cut-off on Tuesday night to accept the offer, was eventually spurned by the Bombers, who according to SEN reporter Sam Edmund, initially gave the Hawks the ‘silent treatment’.
The news comes as Edmund and Channel 7 journalist Mitch Cleary report the captain and six-time best and fairest winner informed Bombers powerbrokers, including coach Brad Scott and Welsh, of his desire to be traded, with his manager Tom Petroro threatening that they will again attempt to force a move in 12 months’ time, at which point his value will be significantly less.
“Essendon, though – the silent treatment: not answering calls, not returning calls,” Edmund said on Seven’s The Agenda Setters.
“There’s a school of thought as well from Hawthorn that maybe the incoming President Andrew Welsh is putting his own personal stance – and he’s been as strong as anyone, guaranteeing that Zach Merrett will be at Essendon next year – above that of the club.
“They said it’s borderline childish. This is an offer they’ve put forward, there won’t be a better one. Take it or leave it.”
Further complicating the deal, the Hawks have suggested they will be open to trading the pick 9 offered to Essendon as part of the Merrett deal to other clubs in exchange for future first-round picks.
According to Cleary, the Bombers’ view of the deal is ‘that it’s Pick 14, Pick 18 and a VFL player, essentially, and throw in a second-rounder’.
“They think this has not moved the needle at all for Zach Merrett,” he said.
Speaking on AFL Trade Radio, former Bombers great James Hird said it was incumbent on Hawthorn to stump up a better offer.
“It is on Hawthorn to give more than what they would normally give,” he said.
“He is a six-time best and fairest and he will make your club a premiership favourite.
“If Hawthorn want him, they need to go bigger.”
The Roarhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2025/10/15/borderline-childish-dons-response-to-hawks-merrett-trade-offer-arrives-with-young-gun-looming-as-circuit-breaker/‘Borderline childish’: Dons’ response to Hawks’ Merrett trade offer arrives … with young gun looming as circuit-breaker
Post a Comment