ESSENDON coach Brad Scott has revealed his pact with Zach Merrett after the Bombers star's failed trade to Hawthorn, with Scott keen for the club to progress preliminary contract talks with the champion midfielder.
Merrett's attempt to get to Hawthorn in last year's Trade Period with two years to run on his contract at the Bombers saw a tumultuous end to Essendon's year.
The Bombers denied the 30-year-old's trade request and he returned to the club in November, before relinquishing the captaincy in December, with Andrew McGrath taking the reins.
In his first interview since the Trade Period, Scott told AFL.com.au that he and his former skipper had vowed to maintain regular check-ins after his return to the Hangar.
"The most important thing for me was that Zach knew, even publicly from the best and fairest onwards, how much we valued him. If we didn't value him, we just would have traded him," Scott said.
"It was really important we got the senior players [and] Zach together and he hit the ground running day one and just goes about his business.
"Now that was no surprise to me but we did have to have a number of discussions just to make sure that he was good. We've spent quite a bit of time, and probably for both of us, we've talked about the fact let's never have a void in communication ever again.
"Even if it's longer than a day or two, [that's] too long. Let's make sure that however you're feeling, the team's feeling, that we talk about it and we've certainly followed through on that all pre-season."
Merrett met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell in September last year before pursuing a move until deadline day of the trade window in one of the most high-profile trade attempts in the modern game.
Scott said the Bombers hadn’t veered from their stance given Merrett’s deal with the club.
"I wouldn't say shocked is the word [to describe his initial reaction]. I was probably just, to be honest, a little bit complacent in terms of … he was contracted for two years so what's the issue here? He's a required player and our captain. There's nothing to talk about," Scott said.
"Now clearly as time went on there was plenty to talk about because everyone wanted to talk about it.
"But from our position, if you look at the start of it when it first came to light, to the end of it, not much changed. But in the middle it was a bit of a circus. I was very pleased the club took a position and stuck to that position."
Scott was in regular contact with the 251-gamer throughout the trade window and said the club, Merrett's teammates and the Bombers' leadership had moved on.
"The really important thing for us is that Zach's fully invested in the club. He's a competitor, he wants to win and we worked through all of that and now he's in a really good space mentally. He's had a fantastic pre-season again, no surprises, and he's been one of our best performers on the track," Scott said.
"I was never concerned that Zach would come back and be anything other than a thorough professional in terms of the way he goes about his footy, and he's certainly done that."
Hawthorn tabled an offer that included three first-round picks in a package to land Merrett in the final hours, but the Bombers put a high price on trading out their captain and weren't budging in the final throes of the tense negotiations.
It came after the Hawks had waited until two days before the deadline to lodge their first trade offer, with Scott saying the Bombers held firm on their position.
"We've got a list management team and when you're talking about your captain and a player of Zach's calibre, it's more than just a list management decision. Clearly our president, our board got involved,” he said.
"From my perspective, I'm not sure whether people believe us or not, but we made our position clear that we weren't trading him and as of 72 hours before the trade deadline, there hadn't even been an offer for him. There was nothing to talk about.
"But eventually the offer came through, but it was way too late and we made our position clear and followed through on it."
AFL.com.au revealed earlier this month Merrett was open to having preliminary discussions about a contract extension past his current deal, which runs to the end of 2027, with the Victorian representative confirming last week an "openness" to talks.
Scott said he was keen to have discussions progress when parties were ready.
"I'm very keen to have him here. He will go down as one of the all-time great Essendon players. I think if Zach and his management are open to, and they want to talk about, potentially extending Zach's tenure and making him a Bomber for life, then of course as a football club I think that would be something we would definitely entertain," he said.
"He's contracted for another couple of years so I don't think it's massively urgent, but what is urgent is we show Zach just how much we value him.
"And sometimes talk can be cheap and long-term commitments, that's not talk, that's action. That's certainly something that personally I'd be very keen to see happen."
Subscribe to the Your Coach podcast series to listen to Brad Scott's full interview with Cal Twomey later this week.