Essendon has a new president, but it has done little to stem the Zach Merrett exit talk as the situation moves towards an inevitable breaking point.
Merrett broke his silence on Brownlow Medal night, stating he feels "a bit of shame" over the messy saga and "we'll see what happens in the next few weeks" in comments that would have done little to quell Bombers fans.
The five-time club champion is being strongly linked with a move to Hawthorn after his highly publicised meeting with the Hawks.
Essendon is holding firm, however, with incoming president Andrew Welsh boldly declaring Merrett is not unhappy at Windy Hill.
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“I don’t think, with all due respect, that Zach is disgruntled,” Welsh told SEN Breakfast on Wednesday. “He is yearning for success. He wants to achieve success.
“He has dragged our club in many games off his own back through mud to try and keep building on where we want this place to be.
“We’re not there yet and we’ve got a lot of work to do.
“He’s not disgruntled, he just wants to be successful. He’s highly complimentary of our list and where we’re going and what we’re doing.
“We need to continue to embrace that and support Zach because it would be tiring.
"He does it every week. Week, in week out he puts our club on his back and we need to support him.”
Melbourne great Garry Lyon then pushed back on Welsh's comments.
Lyon said what many in the footy world are thinking, that Merrett clearly is disgruntled at the direction of a club that has now gone two decades without a finals victory.
“He is disgruntled otherwise he wouldn’t be meeting with another club in the manner that he has," Lyon replied.
“I know what you’re saying, it’s tiring and he puts the club on his back, but he’s the captain of your footy club. That’s what he’s paid to do.
“Every leader in the competition would be feeling tired and at times be a bit disillusioned, but they don’t go out and meet with another AFL club and have it drawn through the media in the manner that it is."