{"id":402826,"date":"2024-06-13T21:02:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T21:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=402826"},"modified":"2024-06-14T04:10:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T04:10:00","slug":"bombers-drugs-saga-drives-star-to-repay-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=402826","title":{"rendered":"Bombers' drugs saga drives star to 'repay faith'"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Essendon<\/a> captain Zach Merrett, the past 11 years of his career in the red and black have been far from perfect, or easy.<\/p>\n

But, as the Bombers sit third on the ladder with an 8-4-1 record after 13 rounds, the star midfielder is finally starting to see a light at the end of the seemingly endless tunnel.<\/p>\n

In just his third season at Essendon, Merrett's footballing career was turned on its head, after 34 senior players were found guilty of taking banned substance Thymosin Beta 4.<\/p>\n

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At the time, the league handed those players and senior coach James Hird a 12-month suspension\ufeff, that would last the entire 2016 season, alongside a $2 million fine.<\/p>\n

\ufeffIn what was arguably the darkest period in the Bombers' history, it gave a young Merrett, alongside midfielder Darcy Parish and defender Mason Redman, the opportunities to shine.<\/p>\n

\"Zach<\/p>\n

Flashforward, and for many Bombers fans\ufeff, the pain is yet to be forgotten.<\/p>\n

Merrett says a new dawn for this football club has made the past more bearable.<\/p>\n

"I've been there through an interesting 11 years. With the ASADA thing, post that, without finals success, clearly," Merrett told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"I've just been overwhelmed with the support we've always had.<\/p>\n

\"Merrett<\/p>\n

"I don't know how, to be honest, how the fans have done it.<\/p>\n

"I see other big clubs who have been in and out of success, their attendances have wavered. But I think Essendon, Collingwood and probably Carlton to that extent, are always so consistent with their support base."<\/p>\n

The time is now, Merrett believes, to "repay the faith" with strong football that the competition should now refuse to ignore.<\/p>\n

"We just want to repay the faith with them. We want to be on the journey with them," Merrett said.<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/p>\n

"Last year we were playing some pretty good footy, we probably dropped away when we had a few injuries. Not an excuse, but\ufeff I didn't think we had the depth we do now, bringing in four mature-aged recruits.<\/p>\n

"(Sam) Durham and (Jye) Caldwell) are a year older as well, 20 more games under their belt. They're stepping up and driving the group forward as much as anyone.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

After their loss to the Blues in round 13, before their bye, Merrett admits that the club isn't focussed on finals just yet.<\/p>\n

"We also respect that the competition is so even at the moment. I think everyone is probably sick of \ufeffpeople internally saying that, but you only have to watch a round of footy, with the upsets that are occurring," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Zach<\/p>\n

"We know that every game is a genuine 50-50.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"We don't really feel we're playing that well yet, which is probably a bit silly\ufeff, getting wins."<\/p>\n

The pressure is rising with the league so close, with sides all the way down to 13th barely a game or two outside of the top eight.<\/p>\n

Merrett knows that after the bye, every game means that much more.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"9RAW:<\/p>\n

"We've probably got some really clear areas we've got to work on \ufeffand connect with better to really compete later in the year," he said.<\/p>\n

"If you were in our club, in our four walls, you wouldn't know we are (third) on the ladder."<\/p>\n

But football can still be fun at Bomberland, with coach Brad Scott \ufefftaking a back step in 2024, letting the players drive their own expectations instead.<\/p>\n

For Bombers defender Jayden Laverde, Scott's trust in the playing group has allowed them to shine.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Jayden<\/p>\n

"It's more of just, us buying in a lot more. He's set the rules and set the precedent that he wants as a coach," Laverde said.<\/p>\n

"I think we've got a lot more guys living the lives of an AFL footballer how it should be.<\/p>\n

"Brad's doing a great job of holding us accountable to that.\ufeff"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Essendon captain Zach Merrett, the past 11 years of his career in the red and black have been far from perfect, or easy. But, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":321657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402826"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402833,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402826\/revisions\/402833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/321657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}