New Bombers skipper has Merrett in his corner

But the super-professional midfielder has already proved a valuable ally to McGrath, his replacement.

"He's obviously been an idol of mine since I arrived at the club," McGrath told AAP.

"He's three years older than me, so he's always been someone that I've emulated in terms of behaviour, training, standards, everything.

"But over the last few months, even more so just giving me his insight on what the role entails, things that he found difficult, things that he thrived on, but really just give me the confidence to be myself.

"He said, 'you were voted into this position because of who you are. We all love what you do and what you stand for, and I don't want you to change at all.'

"So that means a lot coming from him, and (I'm) super excited to lead the club."

McGrath, 27, was overseas with his brother Noah when news broke of Merrett's interest in joining Hawthorn.

"My brother woke up and he's like, 'my goodness, have you seen what's happened?'" McGrath said.

"And I checked my phone and there was a bunch of messages."

When he returned to Melbourne, McGrath turned his focus towards supporting Merrett, 30, throughout the high-profile trade saga - including when things fell through.

"In terms of outcomes, we're super happy to have him," McGrath said.

"He's fully invested. I had no doubt through that process that if he was in the red and black after everything that happened, he'd be the same Zach, and he's still going to be a brilliant player."

Merrett, contracted until the end of 2027, has already been involved in preliminary talks regarding an extension.

McGrath pointed to Sam Durham's recent contract extension until the end of 2032 when stressing the Bombers' focus on keeping top talent.

"We want to create an environment where people want to be and we know Zach's contracted for another couple of years, and we want him to be in the red and black for his career," McGrath said.

"So we want to create the environment that's attractive to both our players and also players that want to come to our club."

The hard-nosed defender is excited by the steps a young Essendon list can take.

McGrath and his teammates know, like every year, Essendon's failure to win a final since 2004 will come up - but they won't let it define them.

"The reality of our list is a lot of our list weren't born when that streak started. So we're a very new team," he said.

"We obviously respect our history and there's a great amount of richness in it, but we also want to forge our own path and be the next great Essendon team."