If you want a job done right, do it yourself.
On the stroke of three-quarter-time with his team leading by the barest of margins, Zach Merrett was streaming into goal with no opponent within 20 metres of him only for Isaac Kako not to spot him.
About half an hour later, an outnumbered Merrett won a two-on-one contest to handball to Kyle Langford, who, with more composure, should have set up the sealing goal.
The two-on-one contest to set up a teammate
This was one of several moments during the Essendon skipper’s 35-possession game against North that showed why he belongs among the game’s elite.
The game-saving mark in defence
Unable to win the game for his team, Merrett did the next best thing. He saved them. Had he not been there to intercept a kick inside 50 from North’s boy wonder Harry Sheezel, the Kangaroos’ sharpshooter Nick Larkey would have gobbled up a simple chest mark for a shot to put the underdogs in front.
With plays like these, it’s little wonder coach Brad Scott mentions his captain in the same breath as Collingwood champion Nathan Buckley, a former leader of another big Victorian club who shone like a beacon through dark times.
“What makes him so good? Well, how long have you got?” Scott said. “It’s unfair to make too many comparisons, but this one I think is appropriate.
“He reminds me of Nathan Buckley in his will to win. He’s so driven.
“I had the misfortune of playing against Nathan Buckley then had the fortune of coaching him His drive and his will to win, is close to second-to-none and Merrett reminds me so much of him in that regard.
Zach Merrett was Essendon’s best in their narrow win over North Melbourne.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“But Merrett, like Nathan, backs that up with work ethic. He works on his craft every day, he is always seeking to get better. Every time he comes into the NEC Hangar, he is like, ‘I am here to get better’ and he expects that of his teammates.”
Brownlow medallist Buckley was the Magpies’ great hope during the late 1990s. Four of his six Copeland Trophy wins came in seasons where his team finished no higher than 11th in a 16-team competition.
After playing a first final in his debut season in the black and white in 1994, Buckley had to wait until he had turned 30 for a second taste of September. Merrett, who turns 30 in October, is yet to win a final from four appearances.
Already at an extremely high standard, arguably just below Nick Daicos and Marcus Bontempelli, Merrett cannot be reasonably expected to do much more himself to get his team there. He undoubtedly knows this, which is why his focus in recent years has shifted towards making teammates better as well.
The lace-out pass
On Thursday night his opening act was to put the ball on the chest of Archie Perkins for the Bombers’ first goal.
The desperate tackle
His effort to bring down North’s veteran recruit Luke Parker, one of this generation’s toughest midfielders, exemplified his commitment to the defensive side of the game.
Upon being spurned by Kako, Merrett did well not to show excessive disappointment and berate his first-season teammate.
“That is the fine line. We’ve worked really hard in that space and Zach has led that. Isaac just didn’t see him,” Scott said. “Isaac is a very unselfish player. If he had seen Zach, he would have kicked it to him.
“I reckon three, four, five years ago he would have shown a lot more disappointment than he did.”
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