Zach Merrett, who at age 20 will serve as stand-in skipper of Essendon this weekend, is backing Dyson Heppell to captain the AFL club in 2017.Brendon Goddard is leading the Bombers because 12 of their players, including captain Jobe Watson, were given doping bans at the start of the year.Goddard suffered a groin injury last weekend and will miss his first game of the season on Sunday, when the Bombers host Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium.Coach John Worsfold opted to look to the future when picking Goddards replacement, asking the midfielder with 56 games experience to step up.A more-challenging question for Worsfold will come during the off-season, when he settles on a leadership group for next year.Watson is among the five banned Bombers yet to indicate whether they will return to the club.Even if Watson doesnt retire, there is a good chance Heppell will be given the gig.Its definitely something to aspire to but I think Dyson is probably the man for next year, Merrett said on Thursday.Hes been fantastic for this footy club.Dyson did his apprenticeship last year and I think hes ready to go.Merrett will be 20 years and 316 days old on Sunday when he tosses the coin, making him the third-youngest man to captain Essendon in VFL-AFL history.Bernie Quinlan holds the overall league record, having been 20 years and nine days when he was stand-in skipper of Footscray in round 18 of the 1971 season.Merrett plans to pick the brains of Heppell and Goddard, while mentor Chris Judd has also been a sounding board.Hes probably got a bit annoyed sometimes with the number of questions Ive asked, Merrett said of Judd.(Judds leadership advice was) to be myself. Be authentic and lead the way I normally lead. Not much is going to change.Its very exciting ... a very good opportunity.No other 20-year-old except for (Western Bulldog Marcus) Bontempelli, in the last probably five or 10 years, has had this opportunity.Meanwhile, Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell suggested the club would be willing to trade Michael Hurley but they expected the in-demand banned defender to recommit.Hurls is very close with his teammates; (there is a) strong association with that group. Theyve been through a very-challenging period together, Campbell told SEN radio.NFL Jerseys Wholesale . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. Stitched NFL Jerseys . -- Ty Montgomery had 290 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Stanford held on to beat No. https://www.nfljerseys2020.com/ . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. NFL Jerseys 2020 Paypal . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. NFL Jerseys 2020 . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at .LEON, Mexico -- Michael Putnam won the Mexico Championship on Sunday for his second career Web.com Tour title, closing with a 6-under 66 for a two-stroke victory. Putnam finished with a 13-under 275 total at El Bosque Country Club and earned $126,000 to jump from 11th to first on the money list with $246,234. The 29-year-old former Pepperdine player also won the 2010 Utah Championship. "Anytime you have the No. 1 on your back you know youve been playing well,&qquot; Putnam said.dddddddddddd "And to win and also lead the money list is a really cool thing. ... I came to Mexico to win. "I came here this week because I wanted to win the golf tournament." Wes Roach, Alex Prugh and South Koreas Whee Kim tied for second. Roach had a 70, and Prugh and Kim shot 72. "It was a long day out there," Kim said. "I was getting tired near the end and I missed a couple of shots coming in." ' ' '