The fourth game on Saturday for AFL Round 22 is between Carlton Blues and Essendon Bombers. The match is to be played at MCG with the opening bounce set to commence at 7:40pm local time with home team Carlton Blues currently holding favouritism in the market. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Carlton Blues and Essendon Bombers.

WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, 7:40pm AEST Saturday, August 24, 2013

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Opening odds comparison:

Carlton Blues	1.44	1.45	1.42	1.45	1.44	1.45
Essendon Bombers	2.75	2.75	2.85	2.75	2.75	2.77

Preview:

Carlton take on Essendon on Saturday night, 7.40pm at the MCG. The Blues will be expected to win here, with the Bombers continuing to go through off-field hell. No
club under so much pressure can be expected to perform well week after week, and the Blues will take no mercy against their old rivals. Carlton can make the finals in
2013, but absolutely need to win here in order to do so, so motivation will not be a problem.

Teams:

Carlton Blues:
B: Heath Scotland, Michael Jamison, Lachie Henderson
HB: Zach Tuohy, Andrew McInnes, Bryce Gibbs
C: Chris Yarran, Mitch Robinson, Kade Simpson
HF: Ed Curnow, Andrew Walker, Tom Bell
F: Brock McLean, Levi Casboult, Matthew Kreuzer
Foll: Robert Warnock, Eddie Betts, Marc Murphy
I/C: Jarrad Waite, Nick Graham, Troy Menzel, Dennis Armfield
Emg: David Ellard, Nick Duigan, Aaron Joseph

In: M.Kreuzer
Out: J.Bootsma

Essendon Bombers:
B: Mark Baguley, Tayte Pears, Michael Hibberd
HB: Brendon Goddard, Cale Hooker, Lauchlan Dalgleish
C: Alwyn Davey, Jobe Watson, Jackson Merrett
HF: Michael Hurley, Stewart Crameri, Jake Carlisle
F: Patrick Ryder, Kyle Hardingham, Nick Kommer
Foll: Joe Daniher, Jake Melksham, Heath Hocking
I/C: David Zaharakis, Brent Stanton, Ben Howlett, David Myers
Emg: Nathan Lovett-Murray, Will Hams, Nick O’Brien

In: P.Ryder, D.Myers, M.Hurley, J.Merrett
Out: L.Jetta, T.Bellchambers, D.Heppell (ankle), N.O’Brien

Blues wary of Bombers’ backlash

Essendon have lost four successive AFL games as the supplements saga takes its toll but Carlton coach Mick Malthouse is preparing for a Bombers’ backlash on Saturday.

Malthouse’s ninth-placed Blues are two wins behind eighth-placed Port Adelaide with two rounds remaining.

Carlton host seventh-placed Essendon at the MCG on Saturday night while in Perth, fourth-placed Fremantle can help keep the dream alive for the Blues by beating Port.

“It’s a must-win game, yes. It’s probably mini-finals in many respects for us,” Malthouse told a media conference on Thursday.

“Destiny is not necessarily in our own hands, but we have got to keep winning.

“We are going to rely heavily on Fremantle.

“We are playing a side that is in the eight, has played some fantastic football, has fallen off a bit in the last couple of weeks and that’s the danger.

“We know they have got the capability of rebounding so we have got to be very switched on and take nothing for granted.”

Next Monday, the AFL Commission is supposed to hear charges of bringing the league into disrepute against Essendon, coach James Hird, club doctor Bruce Reid, senior assistant coach Mark Thompson and Bombers football manager Danny Corcoran.

But that hearing is now highly doubtful, meaning the Bombers go into the finals with the charges unresolved, while Hird on Thursday lodged a writ with the Victorian Supreme Court seeking to have AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou blocked from the panel which will hear the doping case against his club.

“The events of yesterday, it’s an ongoing saga is how I see it,” Malthouse said.

“We’re not part of it so we just step back now and let what is to be, to be.

“It’s an AFL issue with the Essendon Football Club, not worrying about these other things that are no doubt hanging over their head.”

Port host Carlton in round 23 in a possible eighth-place playoff depending on results this weekend.