Tensions are sky-high at Essendon as a potential player exodus threatens to bring the club to its knees.
Big man and cult figure Sam Draper is already out the door, superstar captain Zach Merrett has met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, and best-and-fairest winner Jordan Ridley has met with the Brisbane Lions.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Merrett meets with Hawks amid trade speculation.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
Jayden Laverde could also be leaving, and it has been suggested he could join former Bomber Jake Stringer at GWS.
While Draper is a free agent, the Merrett and Ridley news has rocked the club to its very core.
Accusations are flying everywhere, with CEO Craig Vozzo and coach Brad Scott taking aim at the Hawks coach.
But Essendon icon Tim Watson has cautioned Scott, who took over the coaching reins at Essendon ahead of the 2023 season.
And since he’s been in charge they are yet to finish higher than eleventh, and this year they finished 15th with just six wins.
“I have got concerns ...,” Watson said on SEN.
“If all these players are complaining, and this is what I am hearing, they are complaining about relationships and that type of thing within the football club, then, yes, I have (got concerns).”
Watson, the former Seven sports presenter who is still a highly respected voice at the club, then sent Scott a personal message.
“And Brad, like all coaches, if you have got a problem you have to listen to what people are saying and maybe you have got to modify your behaviours,” he said.
“You have to bring every person along with you. That is what football coaching is about.
“There is no sense in having these hardened non-moveable standards, if you are not bringing the players along and they are not understanding the way.
“It is all about relationships.
“Never before in the history of elite sport has relationships between coaching staff and the players been more important than what it is today.”
Scott admitted he was surprised when news broke of Merrett’s meeting with Mitchell.
The star onballer is contracted until the end of 2027 and is three-time All-Australian and a five-time best-and-fairest winner.
“He’s a contracted captain. Our club’s position is we will not be trading him under any circumstances,” Scott said on Wednesday night.
“I understand Zach. I love Zach. He’s so desperate for success, he wears his heart on his sleeve and he goes through these moments.
“But the club’s position is he’s our captain, he’s contracted for two years.
“We’ve adjusted his contract to reflect his performance and we expect him to see it through.
“He made a commitment. A lot of agents are running with at the moment: ‘just sign long-term contracts, and if you want to move, we’ll move you’.
“Well, that’s not the world I live in. The world I live in is if you make a commitment, then you see it through.”
Scott said even if Merrett was forced to stay against his will, it didn’t mean he had to be stripped of the captaincy.
“Of course he can be captain. No one’s perfect,” Scott said.
“Will it be a challenge based on this situation? Absolutely it will be.
“But I’ve seen him overcome bigger challenges than this.”
Scott, who had dinner with Merrett earlier this week, said news of the star midfielder’s Tuesday night meeting with Mitchell came as a surprise.
The veteran coach likened the 29-year-old’s exploration of a move away like a child making a mistake.
As for Ridley, who is contracted until 2029, Scott took the same stance: “Jordan’s contracted, he won’t be traded under any circumstances.”
Gold Coast’s elimination-final win over Fremantle last weekend has added further emphasis to the lack of September success at Essendon.
They now have the longest stretch without a finals win, dating back to 2004.
It is understood Merrett’s primary motivation for leaving the Bombers is to play in a premiership team.
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is adamant Merrett is too important for Essendon to let him break his contract and leave.
“If Zach Merrett left Essendon, you may as well turn the lights out for the next five years. You have to keep these people,” McGuire said.
Merrett started his AFL career at Essendon in 2014, two years after the club’s controversial supplements program in 2012.
During that time, Essendon fought tooth and nail against a doping ban, but at the start of 2016 34 past and present players were found guilty of doping charges.
The players were banned for the 2016 season (not all were with Essendon that year) and Essendon completed the season with “top-up” players.
The Bombers finished last that year while Merrett won his first best-and-fairest award for the club.
- With AAP
Stream free on
