Merrett to Hawthorn burning questions: Wild quirk of history reveals gravity of Dons skipper's potential trade

Essendon captain Zach Merrett has met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell as he explores his way out of the club.

If he requests a trade and defects, he will become the first Bombers skipper to ever play for the Hawks dating back all the way to the 19th century.

He won't just be the first Essendon captain to request a trade to their arch rivals, but the first to play for both teams, period; ever.

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There is a lot to unpack here, not just historically, but also what has led to this moment and what may unfold from here.

How did it come to this?

It's wild to think that Merrett, within the last 12 months, knocked back a godfather offer to join St Kilda, recommitting to Essendon and earning a pay rise for his loyalty.

The 29-year-old was reportedly on around $700,000 per season, well below the mark for someone of his status as both a club captain and a superstar midfielder.

He was bumped up near the $900,000 mark, but when you consider that the Saints just offered Carlton ruckman Tom De Koning $1.8m per season, you can imagine what they probably put in front of Merrett.

So he knocked back effectively doubling his pay to stick with the Dons through the 2025 season, which obviously went south quickly.

Injuries piled up like never before and Essendon's losing streak by the end of the season hit double digits.

Merrett will be 30 next season. He has never played in a winning final. The allure of playing for Hawthorn, a team fresh off winning a final just last weekend, makes all the sense in the world on paper.

Clearly, he cares for the red and black. He met up with some of Essendon's all-time greats during the season, including Matthew Lloyd, James Hird, Jobe Watson and Dyson Heppell, for a café catch-up to chat through leading the club forward.

Lloyd and Hird in particular have been involved in some of the fiercest and most infamous moments in the history of the rivalry between the Hawks and Bombers.

And yet a few months on, here we are.

Merrett and Essendon have never felt perfectly meshed. In 2020, he was removed from the club's leadership group, only to be reinstated the following season; and made captain in 2023.

Nine's chief AFL reporter Tom Morris believes this move is simply one to chase success, and has nothing to do with lingering scars, finances or the medical dramas that unfolded around him this year.

Maybe we're overthinking it. Maybe it's as simple as a man about to leave his 20s seeing his football mortality flash before his eyes and wanting to make the most of it.

Does this mean Merrett has given up on Essendon?

Going off Morris' report, that this trade request isn't coming due to unhappiness with the coach or medical team and is simply about finding success, it paints a bleak picture of the next few years at Essendon ... particularly without Merrett.

The Bombers had a terrible 2025 season, but they also had one of the worst runs with injuries we've seen in the 21st century, barring West Coast's COVID-afflicted 2021.

Beyond an excuse, it's a fact that Essendon barely had a chance to throw a punch this season.

They'll likely have another strong draft hand and have salary cap space to burn. Nate Caddy, Nick Martin, Archie Roberts, Zach Reid, Sam Durham and Isaac Kako are names you can build a list foundation around.

But Merrett, seemingly, believes his best chance to experience finals glory is elsewhere. So much so that he is willing to force his way out while not only the captain and under contract, but to move to their arch nemesis.

That would be tough to swallow as a Bombers fan.

What cards does Essendon hold here?

In short, all of them.

Merrett is contracted until the end of 2027. They are not forced to do anything, no matter how much fuss is drummed up from his camp throughout the trade period.

The onus is now on Hawthorn, or whoever else bobs up, to present the Bombers with a deal that satisfies them.

Of course, once the captain of your club requests a trade to your 100-year bitter rival, it's tough to put the genie back in the bottle.

Essendon has certainly not been shy about holding players to their contracts in the past. They did so with Joe Daniher in 2019 when he requested a move to Sydney, ultimately costing themselves a top 10 pick given he left as a free agent 12 months later to Brisbane.

Of course, this is a different list management team now. The controversial Adrian Dodoro is no longer running the show. Will this Bombers team be more amenable to Merrett's desires?

If Merrett does hypothetically request a trade to Hawthorn, and the Bombers say no and hold him to his contract - then the immediate issue becomes the captaincy.

Surely your club's poster boy and leader cannot be the guy who just requested a trade to Hawthorn, but refusing his trade request and demoting him is also probably not the best way to motivate a senior player for 2026, let alone the flow-on effects to those around him.

How does Essendon play it from here?

Essendon will, naturally, continue to reiterate the club's stance that Merrett will not be traded under any circumstances.

It's reportedly what the club's board unanimously agreed earlier in the week. And fair enough.

But we're not 12. We know how the trade period works. Carlton is reciting the same lines surrounding Charlie Curnow.

Hell, Fremantle did this with Rory Lobb of all players a few weeks before they traded him to the Bulldogs.

"Required player, contracted to the club, not going anywhere, yadda, yadda, yadda", and then they're moved four minutes before the deadline.

We've become so desensitised to these hard line stances that it was almost surprising when Melbourne stayed true to their stance rather than trading Christian Petracca last year after his request.

Merrett's camp has the power, if they choose to use it, to leak whatever they want through the media to help drive the narrative, heap pressure on Essendon and make the relationship untenable.

But the ball is in Essendon's court, and doesn't move unless they throw it.

What's a fair trade?

The Bombers will set a ludicrously high trade bar for Merrett, and rightly so. If they're ruthless, they'll see if the likes of Collingwood or the Western Bulldogs, who Merrett has reportedly spoken to, can top Hawthorn's offer.

The idea of this being a fair and reasonable trade seems unlikely, and the Dons will rightly play hardball.

The Hawks have Carlton's first-round pick this year, which is currently pick nine. That will move near the teens after academy and father-son bidding. Hawthorn's 2026 first-round pick is likely to be well in the teens when you consider their trajectory plus the hypothetical addition of Merrett.

If I'm Essendon, neither of those assets are moving me off my chair. The Bombers already hold picks four and five thanks to a trade with Melbourne last year, and could potentially receive band one compensation for departing ruckman Sam Draper.

In a worst case scenario, that Draper pick sits at the end of the first round and the Dons are flush with selections. Not to mention defender Jordan Ridley could fetch them another first-round pick if he's traded to Brisbane.

The Bombers' starting point should be asking for someone like Josh Weddle: an A-grade young prospect you could build a backline around.

Hawthorn will say no, and we'll go back and forth from there, but Essendon is well within its rights to ask.

They simply have to balance asking for the world versus actually getting the trade done, if they want to avoid a very awkward return in 2026.

This feels slightly different to the Carlton-Curnow situation, where Carlton will ask for the world, or happily drag the dual Coleman Medallist back for next season, given all the circumstances involved there. We don't have time to delve further into the Blues here, but you get the point.

Hawthorn is adding a star piece to their midfield here, which could see them use someone like Cam Mackenzie as leverage in this trade, given he will struggle to break into that stacked Hawks midfield next year.

The former first-round pick has been linked with a move to St Kilda in this trade period after being part of the Saints' Academy as a junior, but he makes perfect sense as a key piece of this trade.

The Hawks have a glut of key forwards as well. Could Essendon convince someone like Mitch Lewis to come across alongside Mackenzie, and pick nine. Still feels like unders for a contracted superstar captain.

The Dons do need picks in the 2027 draft for father-son prospect Koby Bewick, assuming the AFL doesn't pull the rug out from Essendon there too. That would be cruel at this point.

What does it mean for Hawthorn if they add Merrett?

The most consistent criticism of Hawthorn this season has been that they lack a game-breaking star midfielder.

That has been in part due to Will Day's ongoing foot issues, but also is just where their list is at.

They bolstered the clear hole in their backline last year with Tom Barrass and Josh Battle, they're stocked for key forwards, they have a dangerous small-medium forward mix and a ton of run on the outside.

They will have essentially addressed every list need, while still remaining young enough for a sustained premiership run.

Adding Merrett, barring any other wild trade period bombshells, makes Hawthorn premiership favourites for 2026; and that doesn't feel particularly controversial.

Lloyd Meek, Zach Merrett, Will Day and Jai Newcombe starting on-ball in round one of next season... yeesh.

Here we sit in 2025, a few weeks from the 10-year anniversary of the Hawks winning their third consecutive premiership, and they're seemingly about to put the crown jewel in another sustained tilt.

You've gotta hand it to them. Unless you're an Essendon fan, in which case, feel free not to.