Essendon teammates speak out after Zach Merrett’s bombshell meeting with rival Hawthorn

Essendon superstar Zach Merrett’s bombshell meeting with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has stunned and ‘hurt’ his teammates, and sparked a curious reaction from former Bombers.

In an interesting move, both gun defenders Mason Redman and Nic Martin spoke to different media outlets about the situation, with the club taking the calculated step of sharing those interviews on social media.

“My first reaction was hurt from it, and I was disappointed and a little bit angry about it but then again Zach is my teammate, so I think I have got a job to try to understand his perspective and what he is going through, but I was bitterly hurt from it,” Martin told The Age.

“We are going to have to build the bridge again.”

Meanwhile, Redman backed the club and said he was disappointed.

“From my point of view, the initial thought is disappointment,” he told the AFL’s website.

“Irrespective of the injury issues we’ve had this year, which derailed our on-field progress, I feel like off-field we were really making some inroads into making the club a great place to be around.

“It’s disappointment that our captain, who is supposed to be leading us through this, is exploring other options.

“I haven’t spoken to him. To be honest, whenever you go through tough periods of anything you have thoughts pop into your head about all sorts of scenarios. I certainly don’t begrudge him for having those thoughts.

“But myself being a leader, or the captain of the football club in his scenario, you have to potentially think about things differently because it’s not just you that this impacts, it’s the whole club. It’s ‘Scotty’ as the coach, it’s us as players, and all the fans as well.”

Former Bomber and GWS Giants forward Jake Stringer took the rare step of reacting to the post on social media.

Stringer was essentially forced out Essendon at the end of last year, in a bitter end to his seven years at the club.

He reacted with a popcorn emoji, and then, on Instagram, shared a photo of himself hugging Merrett, with Merrett wearing a king’s crown on his head.

Speedster Nick Hind, who was also forced out of Essendon at the end of 2024, dropped some laughing emojis underneath Stringer’s popcorn post.

While Fremantle’s emerging star Patrick Voss, who was at Essendon as a rookie but was delisted without playing a game, also joined the action with a ‘covering eyes’ emoji.

While fans have been shocked the Merrett news, they supported Redman for speaking out.

“Love that Mason wanted to get on the front foot. I’m glad a player has come out and spoke about this. well done,” one fan said.

And another: “Well done Essendon. It’s good to see that the playing group is coming out and showing support for the club. Redman and now Nic Martin have spoken out which takes a lot of courage.”

And another: “Absolutely love this. This is a true leader”

And another: “Red Dog is the best. True Club Man.”

And another: “This whole situation is very sad, both Martin and Redman saying they are disappointed and rightly so, me too, but no one has actually spoken to Merrett, not Brad Scott even. All say they haven’t, sounds weird. Surely someone needs to hear his point of view.”

There are now fears Merrett might not attend the club’s best-and-fairest event on October 2.

That of course would be a ridiculously awkward situation given Merrett is virtually a certainty to win the Crichton Medal, which would make him a six-time club champion.

The mood at the event will certainly be interesting with big man and cult figure Sam Draper already out the door, and former best-and-fairest winner Jordan Ridley — who is under contract — meeting with the Brisbane Lions.

Jayden Laverde could also be leaving, and it has been suggested he could join Stringer at GWS.

Expert commentator Kane Cornes said Merrett’s reputation was now damaged and he had handled the situation poorly.

“With two years left (on his contract) he’s gone and met with another coach and threatened not to turn up at the B&F,” Cornes said on SEN.

“This lacks courage from Zach. Even if he goes on to win a premiership at Hawthorn, it will be a cheap one.

“This is an easy out for Zach, one of the more easy outs you’ve ever seen.

“You don’t see (Carlton’s) Paddy Cripps do this, (Fremantle great) Matthew Pavlich didn’t, (St Kilda legend) Nick Riewoldt didn’t ... you know what he did, he dug in.

“Merrett’s gone nuclear. You break a contract just after they’ve renegotiated it for you, he’s at the coach’s house 24 hours before meeting Hawthorn, and you don’t tell the club.

“Whether Essendon follow through and hold Zach to the contract, I don’t know, but we can’t sit here and not level any criticism at Zach.

“What he has done lacks courage, it’s an easy out.”