Adelaide Crows vs Essendon Bombers match preview – AFL 2013 Round 1

Tonight’s AFL 2013 opener is between the Adelaide Crows and Essendon Bombers. The game is to be played at AAMI Stadium with the opening bounce set to commence at 8:10pm local time and 8:40pm Melbourne time. It looks to be a fantastic match to start the seaso in which Adelaide are the favourites at home. View the preview of the match including teams.

Round: Round 1 8:10 PM March 22, 2013
Stadium: AAMI Stadium

Weather: 28° Partly cloudy

Adelaide Crows $1.45 vs Essendon Bombers $2.80 at Sportsbet Australia

Adelaide Crows $1.48 vs Essendon Bombers $2.70 at Luxbet Australia

 

Match preview: Adelaide v Essendon

WHERE AND WHEN
AAMI Stadium, Friday, March 22, 8.10pm

MISSING
Adelaide: Ian Callinan (knee) and Brodie Smith (collarbone)

Essendon: Jason Winderlich (groin)

LAST WEEK
Adelaide: Most Crows had last weekend off, but those who needed a run in the lead up to round one played in SANFL trial games. The majority of Adelaide’s AFL squad is at full fitness.

Essendon: Like the Crows, underdone Bombers played in a VFL trial game last weekend, while most of the senior squad had a weekend off. With Winderlich the only injury concern entering the season opener, Essendon too is perfectly placed.

WHAT THEY SAY
Adelaide: “I’ve got a few little butterflies floating around … you just really want to get out there, especially [because] it was tough pre-season for us, a bit going on off-field obviously, so we’re really looking forward to playing games and putting everything behind us.” – Rory Sloane

Essendon: “It’s unusual for us to have 43 out of 44 players to pick from. There’s probably five or six guys who are very unlucky not to get a game this week, but that’s the situation we’d love to be in for a large part of the year.” – James Hird.

WE SAY
Adelaide: Coach Brenton Sanderson admits his side faces increased expectation this season after a stunning rookie year as coach. He maintains his group is hungry and talented enough to live up to the hype and after a difficult pre-season off the field, the Crows will look to make a point on Friday night.

Essendon: After a catastrophic pre-season off the field, the Bombers will be fired up to let their football do the talking on Friday night. With basically an entire list to choose from, Essendon will field a full-strength side well capable of knocking the Crows off on their home deck.

 

Teams:

ADELAIDE CROWS:

• 2 Brad Crouch
• 3 Brent Reilly
• 4 Josh Jenkins
• 5 Scott Thompson
• 7 Nathan van Berlo
• 9 Rory Sloane
• 10 Matthew Jaensch
• 11 Matthew Wright
• 12 Daniel Talia
• 13 Taylor Walker
• 14 David Mackay
• 16 Luke Brown
• 17 Bernie Vince
• 18 Graham Johncock
• 22 Andrew Otten
• 23 Jared Petrenko
• 24 Sam Jacobs
• 25 Ben Rutten
• 26 Richard Douglas
• 32 Patrick Dangerfield
• 35 Shaun McKernan
• 36 Brodie Martin
• 40 Jason Porplyzia
• 43 Aidan Riley
• 45 Ricky Henderson