It was the moment which tipped Essendon over the edge.

They were sick of it being Groundhog Day. Like clockwork when the calendar had hit August the murmurs about Zach Merrett surfaced again.

Rival clubs were feeling the Essendon captain was gettable and in response the Bombers hierarchy were forced to sit down with their best player and sell him the club’s vision.

It happened in 2024 and it had happened again, but this time there was a lot more meat on the bone given the horrible season Brad Scott’s team had just served up.

Essendon were vulnerable to attack, more than they ever had been before.

Like the previous year, Merrett had again easily been their best player in a season which was limping to the line. He’d been forced to sit out with a broken hand in Round 23 which had given him even more time to contemplate life.

The captain was searching for answers when he sat down with his manager Tom Petroro, Essendon chief executive Craig Vozzo and list boss Matt Rosa.

He didn’t find enough.

Fast forward three weeks and Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is doing his weekly press conference at Waverley Park ahead of his side’s semi-final showdown with Adelaide.

The topic of Merrett is raised given the Hawks had tried to get him 12 months earlier and the jungle drums were suggesting they were going harder this time.

“I’m not sure - you have to talk to the list management guys about that,” Mitchell said.

“I hope that they are working behind the scenes to improve our list. That’s what their job is, and I hope they’re going about that.

“It’s not really a focus for right this minute, but I think improving our list is what every club is doing. Everyone is trying to figure out how we can be better in 2026 than we were in 2025.”

Literally one minute after Mitchell’s press conference was completed, a post on social media rocked the foundations of Essendon.

At 10.21am, Channel Nine’s Tom Morris dropped the following on X: “Essendon captain Zach Merrett met with @HawthornFC on Tuesday night, including Sam Mitchell, as he explores a way out of Tullamarine”.

While only minutes earlier Mitchell had played dumb, the reality was he’d met Merrett and Petroro from TGI Sport the previous evening at a private residence along with Hawks footy boss Rob McCartney.

The carefully orchestrated dropping of the bombshell completely caught Essendon off-guard and sparked a response never seen before in the AFL.

This wasn’t just getting on the front foot, from a PR perspective the Bombers went nuclear on their captain.

ON THE ATTACK

Fortuitously, Brad Scott was already scheduled to appear on AFL360 the night of Mitchell’s shock meeting reveal with his captain.

The Bombers had been proactive in getting him on the Fox Footy show given the amount of noise around Merrett heading into the trade period but now the goal posts changed.

By the time Scott arrived at the Southbank studios on the Wednesday night, a strategy had already been hatched at The Hangar where Essendon’s hierarchy had come together and nutted out a calculated response.

Scott didn’t hold back saying “the gloves are off” about Mitchell and Hawthorn’s deception.

“He is a contracted captain. Our club’s position is that we will not be trading him under any circumstances,” he said.

The following day the full extent of the Bombers game plan started to become clear. Rather than trot out the regular cliched denials hidden in a club statement and let Merrett pedal the narrative, they got inventive.

AFL players doing interviews when they’re on leave at the end of the season just never happens. Ever. Three Essendon players suddenly became available in a well orchestrated media blitz.

Defender Mason Redman popped up on the AFL website, midfielder Nic Martin did a newspaper interview and vice-captain Andy McGrath appeared on Ch 7.

The Bombers had made a decision they wanted to be on the record and they wanted their members to hear how they were feeling through the voices of the players.

“I haven’t seen anything like it before,” a long-time media executive said.

There is the key point, the players weren’t briefed on what to say, they put their hands up to get on the front foot because they could see the potential damage the Merrett scandal could do to their football club.

While the Bombers might have come up with the strategy, the players were more than willing participants.

“It’s (a feeling of) disappointment that our captain, who is supposed to be leading us through this, is exploring other options,” Redman said.

He said he hadn’t spoken to Merrett and didn’t “begrudge” him having doubts after another disappointing season, highlighted by the club’s shocking injury toll.

“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,” Redman said.

“It’s the whole club. It’s Scotty (Brad Scott) as the coach, it’s us as players, and all the fans as well.

“He’s the best player I’ve ever played with, so of course you want him to be at the club and at this moment in time he’s my captain. With that being said though, it remains to be seen if that’s the way it works going forward.”

By this stage rumours of a fracture between Scott and the playing group had been aired by former Essendon great Tim Watson on his SEN breakfast show.

This had come after ruckman Sam Draper declared he wanted out and defender Jordan Ridley had met with Brisbane about a possible move.

“I felt quite hurt, I felt a bit frustrated and angry because I don’t see that, and I don’t think it is true,” Martin said.

Martin said he was “bitterly hurt” about the Merrett news. “We are going to have to build that bridge again,” he said.

McGrath said he had “mixed emotions” when it came to his captain.

“There’s disappointment, there’s a little bit of anger, there’s sadness,” McGrath said. “He’s obviously a superstar player for us, so to hear there’s a bit of instability around his future and the footy club is always disheartening.”

While obviously hurting, all of the players had made it clear in their respective interviews they still cared for Merrett and wanted to play with him again next season.

The PR campaign shocked the Merrett camp in particular Petroro who is one of the most respected agents in the game and renowned for being up front and honest.

He had refused to comment publicly and had been at pains to explain to Merrett the difficulty about seeking a move to Hawthorn.

The situation became even more inflamed when Caroline Wilson on Seven’s The Agenda Setters reported Merrett had been “kicking balls” and “getting in the way” of the women’s team training session.

It was implied he had disrespected the women’s team. This one hurt Merrett who was “livid” and convinced the club were now leaking to the media against him. Essendon strongly denied this.

Despite this, he still fronted up to the Brownlow Medal, answered questions impressively about his future on the red carpet and then shared a few beers with his coach and teammates for the evening.

It was all very civil but little did he know that 12 hours later his hopes of being released suffered a major blow from an unexpected source.

BARHAM’S BOMBSHELL

At 9.12am the morning after the Brownlow Medal, a letter from Essendon president David Barham arrived in the inbox of Bombers’ members. He had resigned, effective immediately, and was handing over to former player Andrew Welsh.

There had been whispers about a potential challenge looming but Barham decided to move first, calling an emergency board meeting.

This was not good news for Merrett.

Over the next few days, Welsh did more media stops than Barham had done in three years. And the stake he’d put in the ground about his presidency . . . Zach Merrett wouldn’t be getting traded.

But he did it in a polished and intelligent way, not criticising Merrett, rather agreeing the club had to support him better, understanding that he was yearning for success and wanting to help him achieve that at Essendon.

And what quickly became apparent was how much the Essendon fans and members loved the Welsh stance. The needle was shifting, a captain wanting out is a disaster which normally would rip apart a club but strangely there was a feeling the red and black army were galvanising behind their new leader.

He was clearly sick of the divisions which had plagued Essendon for years and wasn’t going to play politics which is why fellow board member, and Welsh’s former teammate, Dean Solomon sent a stinging email to all past players urging them to stop the bickering and get behind the new regime.

After doubts about whether he would show, Merrett did turn up to the Crichton Medal night where he won his sixth club best and fairest.

He delivered a cryptic speech where he thanked the Essendon faithful, effectively saying goodbye.

“I don’t have control over what others say or do, but from my perspective, I will always show care and consideration to the fans, my teammates, coaches and the club,” Merrett said.

THE FINAL STRAIGHT

The next shot in the tit-for-tat PR war came four days later when a bizarre story – again from Tom Morris – revealed the Essendon players had been angry about a mid-season meeting led by CEO Vozzo which discussed illicit drugs.

The players felt Vozzo had breached boundaries regarding players’ confidentiality and had taken up their grievances with the AFL Players Association.

This happened in June, why it was coming out at the start of trade week raised eyebrows in the Essendon camp.

After a week of no ground being made between Essendon and Hawthorn with Petroro acting as the conduit, Merrett ramped up his own PR campaign. Things were getting desperate.

He attended another meeting with the Bombers hierarchy on Monday –two days out from the trade deadline – where he again told Scott and Vozzo that he wanted to leave. And they again told him he wasn’t getting traded.

By this stage, Merrett and Welsh had been in constant dialogue but the president also hadn’t been shifted.

An offer had finally come through on Tuesday afternoon from Hawthorn with a 7pm deadline attached for that night. It involved Pick 9, a future first-round pick, a second-round pick (2025 or 2026) and Henry Hustwaite.

That was quickly rejected but by Wednesday afternoon - following a pick swap between Hawthorn and Carlton - the Hawks upped the offer to include three first-round draft picks - 10, 22, a first-rounder next year - and Hustwaite.

When Petroro arrived at Marvel Stadium at 2pm, he spoke on the way in and couldn’t hide his frustration.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be in this game for 23 years — I’ve never seen a deal like this for a 30-year-old,” Petroro said.

Petroro being captured by cameras walking in and out of the Essendon and Hawthorn rooms over the next few hours became must-watch TV but as the clock ticked closer to the 7.30pm deadline he was becoming more and more agitated.

While Carlton superstar Charlie Curnow’s move to Sydney was sealed with a handshake with a couple of minutes to go to the cut-off, all of Petroro’s urging - and another desperate call from Merrett to Welsh - couldn’t get the job done.

It turned out Essendon had wanted four first-round draft picks and a future second-round pick from Hawthorn to even begin to entertain the idea of trading their captain.

In all likelihood, it will be Groundhog Day again next year, Merrett wanting out to Hawthorn and Essendon trying to sell him its vision.

The only difference being next time around he will be attempting to leave a more galvanised football club with new professional standards on and off the field who just might have got their swagger back.