Zach Merrett’s confidence in Essendon’s direction helped convince him to extend his existing two-year deal by a further three seasons.

The decision means Merrett will remain with the Bombers until at least the end of the 2021 season.

The 20 year old is just three seasons into his career and has 59 games under his belt.

“I obviously still had two years to go but I think it’s very exciting that the Club has put a bit of faith in me with a five year deal and I’m very excited to take it,” he said.

“With the inclusion of the ten boys coming back I think the Club is well placed going forward with John (Worsfold) at the helm and I’m just very excited to get down to business and work hard.”

Merrett’s career trajectory continued its upward path in 2016.

After spending time on a wing or half forward in his first two seasons, Merrett moved into the heart of the midfield this year.

He averaged 30 disposals per game and broke the record for the most disposals in a season by an Essendon player.

Merrett’s output on the field was rewarded when he claimed his first Crichton Medal and was named Vice-Captain of the AFL Players’ Association’s 22under22 team.

As pleasing as his individual accolades were, Merrett said there are bigger goals in mind.

“Team success is the next thing hopefully.  Individual success is obviously good but it’s nothing compared to team success,” Merrett said.

“I’m (looking forward to) working with Dyson, Jobe, David Myers and Brendon Goddard to work on my own game and hopefully in turn that will help the team perform better as well.”

Merrett’s signature is the latest in a string of key re-signings for the Bombers.

Jobe Watson and Jayden Laverde became the latest when they declared their immediate futures were in the red and black last week.

The retention of Watson in addition to the return of David Myers, Dyson Heppell, Brent Stanton, Travis Colyer, Ben Howlett and Heath Hocking will provide Coach John Worsfold with increased midfield depth in 2017.

“Hopefully it’s a big challenge for the coaches to try and pick six or seven guys to play in the midfield next year,” Merrett said.

“If you look at the best teams in the competition at the moment there is a lot of guys that can go through the midfield so hopefully that’s a good problem for us to have next year.

“Hopefully we can gel together over the pre-season and go into round one firing and ready to go.” 

Merrett will travel with Joe Daniher, Orazio Fantasia and Heath Hocking to the US in the coming weeks in preparation for the resumption of pre-season training in November.

“All we’re focusing on will be that first day of pre-season and trying to improve as much as we can because we know there is 17 clubs doing the same thing,” Merrett said. 

“It’s obviously hard to forecast how we’re going to go and hard to look that far ahead.

“We’ll just try to work as hard as we can and see where that places us in round one.”