Essendon legend James Hird has gone into bat for Zach Merrett and his wife amid the fallout of Alexandra's controversial TikTok post on Sunday night.
During the second half of the Bombers' loss to the Bulldogs, Alexandra Merrett posted a TikTok of herself enjoying a glass of wine, suggesting she had left the match to go a restaurant because of the side's poor performance.
"When your husband's team is losing by 50 points at half time so you go to Gimlet instead," she said, accompanied by the caption "whoops".
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It seems she has since deleted the post.
Despite having kicked only one major to trail by 54 points at the main break, the Bombers rallied somewhat in the second to kick 7.4 to 4.7 to lose by 34 points 14.15 (99) to 9.11 (65).
The post has divided opinion. Former Blues captain Sam Docherty believed it did nothing to help the club, but current Bombers skipper Andrew McGrath said everyone at the club was entitled to a life outside of footy.
The backlash from Bombers fans would no doubt have been fuelled by Merrett's attempts to leave the club during the trade period, having requested a trade to the Hawks.
Speaking on Nine's Footy Classified on Monday night, Hird said he was sick of the "Merrett bashing".
"He's been the best player they've had this year – his performance with the ball and against the ball has been the best so far this year," he said.
"I just see a woman that is sticking up for her husband, and is sick of the bashing he's copping, sick of the bashing she's copping.
"Leave them alone. He's a wonderful person, she's a wonderful person. Put yourself in her shoes … leave them alone and let them get on with their lives."
Fellow panellist Eddie McGuire put it to Hird that Alexandra had "put (her) head in the lion's mouth and pulled its tail", and suggested she could have gone about expressing her displeasure differently.
"Maybe she could have done it in a different way, but in this instance, she's standing up," Hird said.
"We're all educated in a football sense to say 'we do it this way', and she said 'stuff it, I'm going to do it my way'.
"Maybe it's worked to get people to leave them alone."
Also on the Classified panel, Rory Sloane suggested he would not have been at all upset if his wife Belinda – also a well-known radio personality in Adelaide – left a match early if his side were in the midst of a 17-game losing streak.
"I would've told her to leave at quarter time I think … or maybe not even show up," he said.
During the most recent trade period, the star midfielder pushed hard for a trade to Hawthorn to make a fresh start at a club in premiership contention.
No Bombers captain had ever requested a trade to the Hawks. The Dons dug their heels in and refused three first round picks to ultimately hold him.
Merrett relinquished the captaincy and resumed his career at the Bombers, a club that is now on a 17-game losing streak dating back to May of 2025.
New Essendon captain Andrew McGrath said he wasn't aware of the post, but said everyone at the club was entitled to life outside of footy.
"What people do in their private lives is up to them. We know fully well that Zach is fully bought into what we're doing. He's as passionate as I've ever seen him," McGrath told 3AW.
"I think his second half (against the Bulldogs) really shows where he's at mentally and where he wants to take this club. His pressure, his connection with guys, is all we go off."
Former Blues skipper Docherty was more critical of the post.
"The fact of the matter is it's just really not helping Zach's relationship mend with the fans," Docherty told 3AW after the chat with McGrath.
"They're distractions, I know this is how life is these days, but is putting that up really worth the scrutiny your husband is going to get? I don't think so."
The former All-Australian defender said he wouldn't have been impressed with his wife if she had posted something similar during his playing days.
"I wouldn't have been overly happy with it. There's so much media scrutiny already on AFL footy, you just don't need that added," he said.
"Especially for something like that. What's anyone actually gaining from putting that up online? I don't know."
Docherty feels that kind of public bashing can cause "fractures" within the club.
"I'd say so (the post would be something noticed internally by players and their partners)," Docherty added.
"They'd all see it. I guarantee … there would be a certain portion of girls feeling frustrated with the start of the year and where the club is at and friends of Zach's, but there would also be a portion going 'oh really, did you need to add to the fire'.
"If anything, it can creation little fractures off the footy field. It just doesn't help. When everything's going wrong you need everyone on the same message and going down the same path.
"These are the little things that flick away from that and make unnecessary distractions from the players who are there to produce on game day and they need everything to be able to do that."
Richmond legend Matthew Richardson agreed that the post wasn't ideal.
"It's not something I would like out of my partner if I was in that situation," Richardson added.
"We all know the history with Zach, but it's a different time. Social media and the way people express themselves online is a lot different to when I was playing.
"It's a different one. You don't want more attention brought onto yourself, but each one to themselves. This is how young people do things these days."
Despite the 17-game losing streak, Merrett's trade request and the mounting pressure on coach Brad Scott, McGrath said the club is all on the same page.
"We all understand the journey that we're on. We're an improving football side, we have a lot of young talented players who haven't played a lot of footy together," he said.
"We want to keep growing. We understand how hard the competition is at the best of times and when you start with a couple of games like we did, things can feel a bit out of control, but full credit to the leadership of the footy club around keeping the train on the tracks.
"Big clubs draw a lot of media attention, we're not immune to that, we know the environment we operate in, but to keep it business as usual, work on what we need to work on and improve as quickly as possible and the stability around the club has helped with that."
Essendon will take on the red-hot Melbourne in round five at the Adelaide Oval as part of Gather Round.
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