A shocking start to the 2026 AFL season just got even worse for Essendon, with the wife of wantaway former captain Zach Merrett once again poking fun at the club on social media.
Merrett’s failed bid to leave the Bombers in the off-season was well documented, with the club refusing to allow him a release to head to Hawthorn.
What followed has been a shambolic – and winless – start to the 2026 campaign that has seen footy analyst Kane Cornes accuse Merrett and other players of ‘giving up’.
The Bombers have achieved meme status in the AFL, with fans mocking the club for how many days it has been since it won a finals match.
That appears unlikely to change in 2026 as the club lurches from one diabolical loss to another.
Alexandra Merrett drew unwanted attention to Essendon’s struggles on Sunday when she left their match against the Bulldogs at halftime and headed to trendy Melbourne eatery Gimlet.
Essendon slumped to a 17th straight loss after a heavy defeat to the Western Bulldogs on Sunday night, with Zach Merrett (right) rated one of their best players
Merrett’s wife Alexandra (pictured) appeared to have a crack at Essendon during their disastrous losing streak in two TikTok videos
First Alexandra posted a cheeky clip about leaving her husband’s match at halftime to have a meal at a trendy restaurant, then she took a swipe at the Bombers in the comments on a separate TikTok clip (pictured)
She posted a TikTok video captioned ‘When your husband’s team is losing by 50 points at half time so you go to gimlet instead’.
That saw her get slammed by footy greats Matthew Richardson and Sam Docherty, who said the clip was inappropriate and would place more pressure on her husband.
Alexandra took a shot at the club in another TikTok video where she showed followers her game-day outfit.
‘It is game day, you know the drill guys, let’s get dressed,’ she says in the video.
Alexandra then proceeds to run through her outfit, including pants from UNIQLO, jacket from Deering and sunglasses from Le Specs.
While the post in itself was innocuous, the comments were savage towards the underperforming Bombers.
‘What’s the point of doing this if you leave by half time?’ one follower asked, referring to her post about wining and dining at Gimlet.
Another posted a doctored image of Alexandra wearing a Hawthorn guernsey, a cheeky nod to her husband’s failed attempt at joining the Hawks in the off-season.
Fans questioned Alexandra’s loyalty after her husband’s failed off-season move from Essendon to Hawthorn was widely publicised
Critics targeted Alexandra over the post about leaving the game early (pictured)
Coach Brad Scott admitted excuses won’t cut it as the Bombers’ losing streak continues
She didn’t bite at either of those comments, however one post did get Alexandra’s attention.
‘Can you work with the Essendon merch people and make something cute for us girlies. The merch is horrific,’ a follower asked with a laughing emoji.
‘Agreed!!!’ Alexandra replied.
The Bombers suffered their 17th loss in a row in Sunday night’s 34-point trouncing by the Western Bulldogs.
Essendon, who now face Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, previously experienced such a run of misfortune in 2016 when players were suspended because of the supplements saga.
The current streak includes last season’s 13-game losing run when they were cruelled by injuries.
‘It’s just a fact that can’t be argued. There’s no point,’ coach Brad Scott said.
‘No one puts the number up with an asterisk next to it and says “For 90 per cent of those games, you could hardly field a team”. No one cares about that. And I don’t care either.
‘It’s just one of those facts that you have to deal with, and it potentially can get demoralising, but that’s what we’re fighting against, and that’s the challenge that we’re all faced with.
‘I’m faced with it as coach, our leaders are faced with it and people ask a lot of the time ‘What do you want from your leaders?’ Well, they need to keep the group galvanised, and they need to perform on-field.’
