Coleman Medallist Scott Cummings believes Essendon pulled the wrong rein in appointing Zach Merrett as captain.
Merrett has taken over the role which was relinquished by Dyson Heppell last week, becoming the Bombers’ 41st VFL/AFL captain.
Tuesday's appointment was a surprising one to Cummings, considering the three time best and fairest winner was brutally axed from Essendon’s leadership group back in 2020.
Labelling Merrett as the “easy choice”, ex-Bomber Cummings wonders whether his playing style is what you want from your captain.
“Zach Merrett was probably the easy choice but I’ve watched Zach Merrett a lot and he’s one of those players that is just so one-dimensional,” Cummings told SEN WA Brekfast.
“He’ll get easy kicks, he gets lots of the footy there’s no doubt about that, he’ll get his little 15-20m kicks and that sort of stuff.
“I don’t think he hurts you that much, I don’t think he chases too much, I don’t think he overly enjoys body contact.
“If your captain doesn’t crash in, sometimes there’s games where the captain needs to lift his side, it’s a funny thing to say because there’s moments in games where players can lift their side but when it’s your captain as well, everyone has to go with them.
“You look at Joel Selwood, when he needed to get his hands dirty, he got his hands dirty and his whole side would follow him along.
“I’m not sure Zach Merrett is the sort of bloke that’s going to drag everyone along with him. Zach Merrett seems to me to be a guy that’s pretty keen to be getting his kicks and possessions, I’m saying that from the outside and as a football watcher.”
So who would’ve Cummings picked to replace Heppell?
“I would’ve gone the other way with Mason Redman,” he added.
“I certainly was in the Mason Redman camp, he’s an impressive man that has a little bit of mungrel in him as we saw at training.
“He’s hard working, he works both ways in that he works forward attacking and then locks down on his man really really well.
“I think he’s a really good leader and although we’re not on the inside at Essendon but from the outside I would’ve suggest they pulled the wrong rein there.”
Merrett will lead Essendon for the first time against Gold Coast in a practice match this Thursday.
Defender Andy McGrath was named as Merrett’s vice-captain.