AFL Player # 7: Indefatigable Zach Merrett (c) - 5 time Crichton Medallist! 🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅

[Beerfish]

Contract Status: Unrestricted Free Agent 2027
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 10, I Remember Bluey

 

[Kakkle]

2nd AA! Suspect there's more to come.

 

[Donakebab]

Congrats Zach. Deserved AA guernsey picked on the field.

 

[doug85]

What a legend! Backs in the club and gets his just desserts with an AA jacket.

 

[eth-dog]

Congrats Zach. Deserved AA guernsey picked on the field.

Both times on the wing

 

[Donakebab]

Strangths.

 

[The Donners]

Well deserved!

 

[Albertross]

Happy with this, well deserved honour. But, since when has he played on the wing?

Soon enough we will 22 midfielders on the ground played out of position.

 

[Lore]

7th overall in the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year. We got two in the top 10

Star mid claims coaches' award, dramatic tie for best young player

Clayton Oliver has been recognised by the coaches as the best player of 2021, while a Docker and Sun couldn't be separated in the young player award

www.afl.com.au

 

[Seb78]

 

[Highly Evolved]

Much deserved. Zerrett had a massive year.

 

[windyhill]

Bloody nice one !

 

[DERO]

My boy!

 

[ghostdog]

Well deserved AA jacket, Zachy. Been a gun all year.

 

[11kgm]

our captain once Hep retires

 

[Lore]

Looks like he went into the club tonight for the presentation. Doesn’t have quite the same effect imo. ****covid

 

[cAsEy_18]

Looks like he went into the club tonight for the presentation. Doesn’t have quite the same effect imo. fu**covid

AA is a bit of a wank for mine anyway (apologies to those who look quite deeply into this stuff).

Congratulations to Zach, and he is absolutely deserving.

But I place minimal weight into some of these awards - always worth a gander to have a look at who is awarding these different things to determine their worth - certain awards that are voted on by media personalities I take with a grain of salt.

But maybe that's just me and my cynical view. I'm sure Zach will happily sit back and be called a 2+ AA when all is said and done - and so he should be proud of that fact.

 

[Albertross]

The first sign I saw this year, that just maybe things had changed for the EFC, was the commitment from one Zach Merrett.

His defensive effort this year was far improved from previous years. Well done ZM.

 

[Albertross]

AA is a bit of a wank for mine anyway (apologies to those who look quite deeply into this stuff).

Congratulations to Zach, and he is absolutely deserving.

But I place minimal weight into some of these awards - always worth a gander to have a look at who is awarding these different things to determine their worth - certain awards that are voted on by media personalities I take with a grain of salt.

But maybe that's just me and my cynical view. I'm sure Zach will happily sit back and be called a 2+ AA when all is said and done - and so he should be proud of that fact.

Agree. The awards that are voted by their peers hold more weight IMO. Either way, happy for Zach.

 

[Lore]

AA is a bit of a wank for mine anyway (apologies to those who look quite deeply into this stuff).

Congratulations to Zach, and he is absolutely deserving.

But I place minimal weight into some of these awards - always worth a gander to have a look at who is awarding these different things to determine their worth - certain awards that are voted on by media personalities I take with a grain of salt.

But maybe that's just me and my cynical view. I'm sure Zach will happily sit back and be called a 2+ AA when all is said and done - and so he should be proud of that fact.

A lot of the awards are a bit of a wank really. The flag is the one that matters.

But if they are getting a bonus in their wages by getting those random trophies, medals and jackets, including Anzac Day, Dreamtime and Country Game, then it’s still worth something, even if it only means you’re the 22nd best midfielder according to a handful of media nuffies that year.

 

[Don Won]

A lot of the awards are a bit of a wank really. The flag is the one that matters.

But if they are getting a bonus in their wages by getting those random trophies, medals and jackets, including Anzac Day, Dreamtime and Country Game, then it’s still worth something, even if it only means you’re the 22nd best midfielder according to a handful of media nuffies that year.

It also means my team is better than your team on Bigfooty.

 

[Old Campaigner]

AA is a bit of a wank for mine anyway (apologies to those who look quite deeply into this stuff).

Congratulations to Zach, and he is absolutely deserving.

But I place minimal weight into some of these awards - always worth a gander to have a look at who is awarding these different things to determine their worth - certain awards that are voted on by media personalities I take with a grain of salt.

But maybe that's just me and my cynical view. I'm sure Zach will happily sit back and be called a 2+ AA when all is said and done - and so he should be proud of that fact.

I think the AA squad of 40 is probably the better indication of who is a good player. When you’re trying to pick 22 guys for specific roles there’s plenty of great players who will miss out because they might have run out of spots for that type of player.

 

[RearNaked]

Thank **** we turned our shit around snd good on him for calling it out

 

[astrowizzle]

Love this guys work. Sometimes i look at him and i can see Bomber thompson. Gun. Loves the club.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Love this guys work. Sometimes i look at him and i can see Bomber thompson. Gun. Loves the club.

On this, are we sure they're not distant cousins?

The Bombers guernsey helps but they are practically identical.

 

[Lore]

Cute article about the bromance between Zach and Parish. It's one of those things where he was always close with Heppell and then with Daniher and Fantasia, but all three have been injured and two of them left. Seemed to be a one man band there for a while, and not surprising that he seriously considered leaving really. So good to see him more closely connected to the guys that will be the present and future of the team with him now. When the team is happy and driven, everything else should follow.

“Obviously with Darcy Parish and the duo we’ve started, we’ve built our connection over this year and that has been really exciting,” Merrett said.

“Darcy and I have trained together for five or six years now. We understand each other’s strengths really well and understand the way in which we play and how each makes decisions on the field. It’s built off hours and hours of training together.

“We spent time in the off-season training together at Preston, out on the City Oval there. We brought that momentum together into pre-season. When he got his opportunity, he was ready to take it and I think we built a really strong combination with guys unfortunately out with injury.

“It’s been really exciting to see him flourish and I’m sure we’ll get better and better as we keep playing more games together.”

“We’ve been building our relationship over the years. This year he really challenged me to build on my consistency and be a real leader and performer for this club,” Parish said.

“I’ve been working really closely with him and we’ve made a nice duo in there, giving each other a fair few handballs along the way.

“I love playing alongside him. I know his strengths and weaknesses and we help each other along the way. He’s been super for me.”

The growing bond fuelling All-Australian duo

Zach Merrett and Darcy Parish are driving each other to new heights.

www.essendonfc.com.au