Essendon skipper Zach Merrett has opened up on past honest conversations with the club about his leadership style that have helped develop him into the figurehead he is today.
And despite conceding he needed to make changes, Merrett revealed new coach Brad Scott’s main message has simply been to “be yourself.”
Merrett in 2020 was dumped from the Bombers leadership group before returning to it the following year and being named captain ahead of the 2023 season after Dyson Heppell stood down from the role.
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Speaking on Fox Footy’s On the Couch, Merrett opened up on his development and how he needed to adapt despite staying true to his abrasive approach.
“I’m still learning (about leadership) and I think it was certainly something early I was very black and white (with). It probably annoyed me, and then in turn, annoyed a lot of my teammates at times,” Merrett told On the Couch.
“There was some direct feedback, and I learned probably the hard way getting pushed out of the leadership group. But I took it on board, adjusted a little bit and at times doubled down the way I was as well — there was a bit of give and take.
“I think players respected a little bit the way I actually doubled down on the way I go about it and my strengths and not just folding to the pressure of connecting and being more caring and all those things that come with it.
“But I think I’m in a pretty good place now. We’re performance driven and trying to win games of footy.”
Merrett credited Scott for helping him progress as a leader and revealed the two have quickly bonded over their shared drive for success and demand for high standards.
“I think we’ve got on really well really quickly and grown a pretty quick relationship based off that — no nonsense, we’re there to perform and win games of footy,” Merrett said of his coach.
“We caught up and had a coffee probably a week after he came across. His message was be yourself and focus on playing the best footy you can.
“It seems quite silly, but I think you can get distracted at times trying to be a leader and trying to influence the group and get distracted with a lot of things off field.
“I went about my pre-season being as fit as I could and trying to get better in a number of areas I felt I needed to individually to be a better teammate.
“His message was pretty simple, but has certainly been very beneficial.”
The Bombers captain noted that maintaining his authentic leadership style has been shaped by the widespread change at the club recent times including a big list turnover.
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“(It’s) probably a bit of both — a new coach and a new playing group as well. I think we’ve turned over probably 25-30 guys in that two or three year period as well.
“It’s very much a different group that I’m loving leading out and leaning on as much as I can as well. We’ve got super talent, but turning that into capability and performance is the funnest part of the job.”
Scott has quickly made his mark at Essendon, guiding the club to a promising 4-1 start to the season before dropping its last three games to Collingwood, Geelong and Port Adelaide to currently sit ninth on the ladder.
The Bombers have improved considerably offensively including in points for (going from being ranked 12th competition in 2022 to ranked 4th in 2023), points from turnover differential (16th to 4th) and accuracy (16th to 4th).
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But like it has in recent seasons, Essendon still has issues defensively, ranking 14th in points against, 18th in defending ball movement and 17th in pressure.
It comes despite Merrett revealing nearly the entire focus over pre-season was defence, declaring it would’ve been a 90%-10% split.
“We started talking about offence about a week before Round 1, to be honest,” the 27-year old said.
“It was pretty clear we needed to work on our contest and defence the last four or five years. Basically it would’ve been a 90-10 split honestly throughout the pre-season.
“I think the offence comes really naturally, we’ve got a lot of guys with a huge amount of talent that he’s given us freedom to play, which at times results in us going too fast and can sort of hurt our defence.
“We’re still very much focusing on our defence, it’s nowhere near where it needs to be consistently, but I think we’re seeing some improvements in that ability to defend the quicker transitions.”
