The third game on Sunday for AFL Round 19 is between Collingwood Magpies and Essendon Bombers. The match is to be played at MCG with the opening bounce set to commence at 4:40pm local time with home team Collingwood Magpies currently holding favouritism in the market. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Collingwood Magpies and Essendon Bombers.

WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, 4:40pm AEST Sunday, August 4, 2013

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Opening odds comparison:

Collingwood Magpies	1.77	1.76	1.75	1.76	1.77	1.77
Essendon Bombers	2.05	2.05	2.08	2.05	2.05	2.07

Preview:

The last match of round 19 is between Collingwood and Essendon, in a game many people will have pegged as match of the round. The Magpies will be slight favourites
to win this one, although history is on the side of the Bombers. While Essendon have performed well in 2013 despite all the off-field pressure, perhaps the Magpies can
take advantage this weekend. These two teams have a lot of history between them, which should make for a close game and a great way to finish of the round.

Teams:

Collingwood Magpies:

FF 17 Dayne Beams 32 Travis Cloke 6 Tyson Goldsack
HF 19 Jamie Elliott 21 Quinten Lynch 11 Jarryd Blair
C 22 Steele Sidebottom 12 Luke Ball 41 Sam Dwyer
HB 8 Heritier O’Brien 39 Heath Shaw 46 Marley Williams
FB 16 Nathan Brown 5 Nick Maxwell 23 Lachlan Keeffe
FOLL: 35 Brodie Grundy, 10 Scott Pendlebury, 36 Dane Swan

INT FROM: 3 Brent Macaffer, 27 Ben Kennedy, 20 Ben Reid, 28 Ben Sinclair, 15 Jarrod Witts, 40 Paul Seedsman, 24 Josh Thomas

In: L.Ball, Q.Lynch, P.Seedsman
Out: –

Essendon Bombers:

FF: 22 Jake Carlisle 34 Kyle Hardingham 38 Nick Kommer
HF: 9 Brendon Goddard 3 Scott Gumbleton 47 Cory Dell’Olio
C: 11 David Zaharakis 4 Jobe Watson 21 Dyson Heppell
HB: 15 Courtenay Dempsey 30 Patrick Ryder 1 Michael Hibberd
FB: 31 Dustin Fletcher 26 Cale Hooker 46 Mark Baguley
FOLL: 2 Tom Bellchambers, 5 Brent Stanton, 39 Heath Hocking

INT FROM: 10 Nick O’Brien, 16 Tayte Pears, 32 Travis Colyer, 17 Jake Melksham, 7 Leroy Jetta, 40 Ben Howlett, 23 David Myers

In: J.Watson, S.Gumbleton, K.Hardingham, N.O’Brien, D.Fletcher
Out: M.Hurley (ankle), J.Daniher

Magpies losers in AFL final round fixture

Hurt by a tough AFL finals schedule in 2012, Collingwood have refused to gripe about again getting the rough end of the deal leading into this year’s post season.

The Magpies are the only likely finalists among the six teams scheduled to play on the Sunday of the final home-and-away round, for which the fixture was announced on Tuesday.

Sitting seventh, it means Collingwood will most likely get a day’s less break, perhaps two, than their opponents for what will probably be an elimination final.

The Magpies play North Melbourne at the MCG on the Sunday of round 23.

The AFL fixtured Hawthorn’s clash with Sydney at ANZ Stadium for the Friday night – trumping the NRL which also wanted a game there that night – to ensure the top-placed Hawks are given the advantage of the longest possible break leading into finals.

That left the weekend’s two MCG games to be split between the Saturday and Sunday.

The AFL scheduled likely finalists Essendon and Richmond to meet on the Saturday night because they’re higher placed than the Magpies.

Collingwood will now push to play their opening final on a Sunday to get a seven-day break.

But coach Nathan Buckley and chief executive Gary Pert were more concerned with the Magpies’ current form than their finals schedule.

“We understand the way the system works, in that the rewards go to those who finish highest,” Pert said.

“We’ve got no problem with that.

“What’s important for us is to concentrate on making our preparation as sharp as it can possibly be.”

Collingwood were also given a tough run in last year’s finals, when they sat fourth.

They lost to Hawthorn in a Friday night qualifying final, coming off a six-day break compared to the Hawks’ seven.

Their campaign ended with a preliminary final loss to Sydney a fortnight later, when not only did they come off a six-day break compared to the Swans’ 13 but attended the funeral of former teammate John McCarthy the day before.

The AFL’s hand was forced on that occasion, when they wanted to fixture the ANZ Stadium game on the Saturday night, but an NRL preliminary final took preference.

That also meant Hawthorn were given a shorter lead-in to the grand final than the Swans, despite being the top team, which the AFL admitted was unfair.

Fremantle, Brisbane and Carlton, who along with the Hawks must travel interstate for this year’s last home-and-away round, all play on Saturday afternoon so they can fly home that night.

Adelaide play in Perth against West Coast that Saturday night but, as they sit 12th, are finals long shots.