How Hawthorn missed out on Essendon star Zach Merrett

GUY McKenna says he’s never seen anyone use the footy like Zach Merrett. So how did the Hawks miss out on a player described as the best decision-maker in the 2013 draft?

Zach Merrett was the one that got away for the Hawks and boy he made them pay in Round 1. Picture: Getty Images

AS the 2013 national draft ticked into the second round, Hawthorn and Essendon lay waiting with midfields in need of replenishment.

The Hawks took speed and endurance over old-fashioned footy nous — running man Billy Hartung was snapped up at pick 24.

Zach Merrett was the one that got away for the Hawks and boy he made them pay in Round 1. Picture: Getty Images

Two selections later Essendon eagerly took Zach Merrett, a short-ish left-footed midfielder rated the best decision-maker in the draft crop.

In Round 1 this year the wildly divergent paths of those two players came into sharp relief.

Merrett cut Hawthorn to ribbons with his audacious field kicking, slicing left-foot lasers through the corridor in a command performance.

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Hartung, supposedly the modern prototype of the new athletic game, didn’t survive the selection axe for Round 2.

Players like Merrett were supposed to have gone out of fashion in a game where everyone wants the next Anthony Koutoufides.

Yet two rounds into the season Merrett might have six Brownlow votes and is atop the AFL Coaches Award with 18 of a possible 20 votes.

#afldonshawks @mcg Zach Merrett & Brent Stanton in the middle of the 'G' post game @superfooty pic.twitter.com/yh4NGVrCAs

— Wayne Ludbey (@WLudbey) March 25, 2017

In a year we were stripped of picks, #essendon get Zach Merrett and 26 and Raz at 55. #karma #AFLLionsDons

— Sam Cantwell (@Samm_Cantwell) April 1, 2017

Is @zachmerrett07 the best kick in the AFL? https://t.co/nQE8UgxaLo

— AFL Game Day (@7aflgameday) April 2, 2017

Will never forgive Hawthorn for drafting Billy Hartung over Zach Merrett. Memo to recruiters, beep test is not the be all and end all.

— Brayden Harkness (@BHarkness8) July 31, 2015

He is Essendon’s phoenix rising out of the ashes, a player picked with the selection garnered when Stewart Crameri escaped the ASADA mess.

And he more than any other player benefited from the ASADA bans of his teammates, turning from a half forward into a fully formed elite midfield talent.

The Bombers are roaring up the charts, and while Orazio Fantasia and Andrew McGrath are thrilling, it is Merrett the fans truly love.

Essendon midfield coach Guy McKenna says he is more than an elite kick, constantly pushing him to explode from stoppages and hit up targets on the run.

But he sees what everyone else does, bestowing upon McKenna the ultimate accolade given his own rich football experience.

The man picked two spots ahead of Merrett in the draft was left out of the Hawks side a week after it was torn to ribbons by the star Don. Picture: Getty Images

“His ability to use the footy is like I have never seen before,” said McKenna, an Eagles premiership player, assistant coach then senior coach at Gold Coast.

“He is right up there. The best I had worked with is Gary Ablett, for touch kicking and the ability to hit a player with the ball.

“Gaz has done it over a period of time and the test for “Junior” will be over a period of time, but his vision and depth and touch kicking is fairly elite.”

Every club has a Hartung-Merrett story they have hit or missed on, with Hawthorn rewarded this week when No.19 pick Ryan Burton became a Rising Star nominee.

Yet slot Merrett into the Hawks midfield this year and we would be telling a very different story about their capacity to quickly rebuild.

Merrett doesn’t have some wild back story — the Sandringham Dragon was just born to play football and leaves no stone unturned to maximise that talent.

Case in point: instead of spending his off-season blowing cash in Vegas he and a trio of teammates self-funded a fact-finding mission of American sport programs.

“He’s 21 but he carries himself as a 31-year-old,’’ McKenna said yesterday.

Guy McKenna says Zach Merrett uses the ball as well as the little master Gary Ablett. Picture: Getty Images

“He is very meticulous in his preparation. He is one of those ones where he trains hard and plays easy.

“He’s very coachable and wants to learn and he has gone from a half forward role two years ago to what he is now.

“Last year was him finding out what he could and couldn’t do. We encourage him to (take risks) with his kicks but even last week he turned a few over in the second quarter when Brisbane scored goals.

“We are pushing him to take those (dangerous) kicks, and he hits eight out of 10 of them. If it was only two out of 10 we would be backing him off.”

The romance of Jobe Watson winning back a Brownlow Medal to replace the one he had to hand over remains.

And yet right now Merrett is the one stealing Brownlow votes as the Bombers’ midfield rapidly takes shape.

Originally published as How Hawthorn missed out on Essendon star Zach Merrett