Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell admits to being a little shocked on Tuesday night when he heard sacked Essendon coach Brad Scott discuss Zach Merrett’s failed trade request last year.
Merrett, who was (and still is) under contract, wanted to move to Hawthorn but the two clubs could not come to any agreement during last year’s trade period.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Brad Scott blindsided by shock coaching call
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On Tuesday, however, Scott’s revealed that he would have let Merrett go if the call was solely his.
“Yeah, it’s fair to say that’s a club decision to retain Zach,” Scott told The Agenda Setters.
Pressed on if he agreed with the call, Scott was blunt.
“No … my view was that Zach had given incredible service to the Essendon football club. He’d been through multiple strategies, multiple coaches, been made promises on multiple occasions,” Scott said.
“You know, my view is always you invest in the team and you put the team first. And Zach found that really hard to do at the end of last year. And I felt for him and I felt for his family.”
Sitting back and watch it all unfold on the screens of Seven, Mitchell said he was enthralled.
While he said it was “not the week” to discuss Essendon, he also admitted the Scott interview was “good TV”.
“I mean, it was an interesting comment, when you hear the coach say that he wanted something different to the football club,” Mitchell said on Wednesday.
“It’s not completely unexpected, I suppose, but hearing it publicly like that was interesting.
“We obviously had a fair bit of interest in Zach at that period of time and that didn’t come to fruition, which was out of our control we thought.
“We’ll soldier on with this year and see how we can go and make sure we’re giving ourselves the best chances and see if we can improve our list later on.
“How coaches and list management departments work together … it was an interesting comment. I think I was a bit like everyone else who thought it was good TV.”
The situation around Merrett remains intriguing, with the star midfielder speaking glowingly about James Hird (who has thrown his hat into Essendon’s coaching ring) on Tuesday at a public event.
Mitchell also confirmed that injury-plagued star Will Day came through his first game of the season without any problems, boosting hopes that he will finally return to the AFL against St Kilda on Friday night at Marvel Stadium.
Day, one of Hawthorn’s most important players, is yet to play senior football this season because of a dislocated shoulder.
He was also restricted to six AFL games last season because of injury.
The 24-year-old returned through Box Hill in the VFL last week, delighting the Hawks.
“He’s on the way back, so what we do with him from a management point of view, he’s excited to be back playing footy,” Mitchell said.
“Even the soreness post-game, he said that feeling – ‘in a sense, I missed it’.
“That feeling’s horrible, you wake up the morning after a game and you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck. He hadn’t felt that for a while, but he said ‘that hit me with the full force’, so I was pleased to have him back playing.
“(But) in all of the parts that matter, he’s fine.”
While Day’s return will bolster the Hawks, Mitchell said he is not the brown and gold Messiah.
“Adding talent back into your group is always important, but we would like to think we don’t rely on individual players too much,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a risky way to plan your strategy. So he’s a very good player, and we love having him out there.
“Can we not win games without Will Day? Well, of course we can. And are we better with him in? Of course we are.
“So he’s a player who’s going to be important for us when the right time comes.”
After their excellent win over Adelaide last week, Hawthorn come up against Ross Lyon’s Saints at Marvel Stadium – always a fraught assignment.
“It doesn’t feel like there are any easy weeks in the AFL,” Mitchell said.
“If you look at the results of last week, I don’t know how everyone’s tipping is going, but it’s quite a difficult year.
“We see the Saints, they’re in front in the last quarter against Fremantle in Perth. They’re playing some really good footy.
“Ross’s sides are historically really difficult to play against. The potency at the moment with the way they’re playing has been first-class.”
– With AAP
