Essendon officials adamant no trade for captain Zach Merrett will be looked at as trade period begins

Hawthorn will consider bundling picks in the quest to land wantaway Essendon skipper Zach Merrett who hasn’t officially asked for a trade and with any plans set to be blocked by the Bombers. Essendon opened the AFL’s trade period by shutting down talk of a deal with the Hawks refusing to budge on plans to keep Merrett as the club. Merrett, who won his sixth club best and fairest last week and made an awkward speech conceding to “complexities and uncertainties” about his future having met with Hawks coach Sam Mitchell. But following a statement from new president, Andrew Welsh, that Merrett would be kept to the final two years of his contract , list boss Matt Rosa was adamant on Monday the captain was a “required player” and he’d made no official request for a trade. “It’s been an interesting little period, but nothing’s really changed,” Rosa said as representatives of all 18 AFL clubs filed in to Marvel Stadiun to begin talks over player movement confirming there had been on contact with the Hawks. “Zach has been gathering information and, as we’ve stated as a club, Zach is a champion of our football club (and) he’s a required player,” he said. “The conversations are ongoing though, there’s been really good dialogue between Zach and the club. “Zach will be an Essendon player next year. If he does (request a trade), nothing will change from our end. “Zach is fully aware of that, he’s a contracted player, he’s at the age where we still feel like he’s got plenty of football left to play. “We feel like we’ve got a really strong, young and emerging list and we also believe in our core group – unfortunately we haven’t been able to get enough of them out on the park this year.” Hawthorn list manager Ben McKenzie says the Hawks will consider bundling picks for Merrett but remain satisfied with going to the draft if they miss the star midfielder. “No, not at this point in time, not at all, (Merett) hasn’t made a trade request or anything like that,” he said. “Overall with the potential options you have through trading picks, two years in advance and those things, whether it’s a player like Zach or another player, we feel like we’ve got scope to talk to clubs. “We’ve got a good pick in pick 8 this year, that could be the draft, we’re pretty comfortable where we sit at this point in time. “But with that extra year of draft picks that you can trade, I think that gives you enough to look at all aspects with all different clubs.” Rosa said it’s “not ideal” Merrett is meeting with other clubs but denies there will be any issues with his teammates when he returns to pre-season. “(We’ve had) no dialogue with Hawthorn and if they do make contact, we will be very clear that nothing will change,” he said. “It’s not ideal when any of your players are meeting with other clubs but we’re also aware that we meet with players from other clubs also. “It does happen, it’s not ideal … but we’ll continue to work through it and we’re very clear that Zach will be starting pre-season with us. “His teammates will be fine with that, the club will be fine for that because we love Zach and he’s an unbelievable player.” The Bombers have also been linked to St Kilda captain Jack Steele, who has been told he could explore options despite wanting to stay at the Saints. Rosa said Essendon “admire’” Steele and would look at the potential to bring him in. “Well, we admire him from afar the way he goes about his football. But again there’s a lot to play out over the week,” he said. “We will look at all options to whether it’s bringing in role specifics or ideally we can bring in a grade talent, but we’re always looking to bring in high end characters and role specifics that can help the club also.” The Bombers have three first round picks to play with in this year’s draft.