The second game on Sunday for AFL Round 16 is between Western Bulldogs and Essendon Bombers. The match is to be played at Etihad Stadium with the opening bounce set to commence at 3:20pm local time with away team Essendon Bombers currently holding favouritism in the market. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Western Bulldogs and Essendon Bombers.

WHERE AND WHEN: Etihad Stadium, Sunday 14 July, 3:20pm

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Opening odds comparison:

Western Bulldogs	6.50	7.75	6.50	7.75	6.50	6.60
Essendon Bombers	1.11	1.08	1.11	1.08	1.11	1.12

Preview:

The Western Bulldogs take on Essendon on Sunday, 3.20pm at Etihad Stadium. The Bombers will be expected to win here, especially after the Bulldogs narrow victory
against GWS last round. While they may be suffering from a few injuries at the moment, there is not much danger of Essendon losing this one. The Bulldogs will have to
pull everything out to even be in with a chance, and that looks unlikely the way they have been playing over the last few weeks.

Teams:

Western Bulldogs:
B: Liam Picken, Jordan Roughead, Dale Morris
HB: Adam Cooney, Michael Talia, Brett Goodes
C: Jason Tutt, Tom Liberatore, Robert Murphy
HF: Daniel Giansiracusa, Liam Jones, Nathan Hrovat
F: Dylan Addison, Jarrad Grant, Luke Dahlhaus
Foll: Will Minson, Clay Smith, Ryan Griffen
Int (from): Mitch Wallis, Tom Young, Koby Stevens, Lachie Hunter, Jack Macrae, Tory Dickson, Daniel Cross

In: D.Cross, D.Addison, J.Grant, L.Picken, L.Hunter, T.Young
Out: A.Cordy, J.Stringer (soreness), J.Johannisen (shoulder)

Essendon Bombers:
B: Courtenay Dempsey, Dustin Fletcher, Tayte Pears
HB: Mark Baguley, Cale Hooker, Michael Hibberd
C: Brendon Goddard, Dyson Heppell, Jake Melksham
HF: David Myers, Michael Hurley, Brent Stanton
F: Jackson Merrett, Jake Carlisle, Nick Kommer
Foll: Patrick Ryder, David Zaharakis, Jason Winderlich
Int (from): Nathan Lovett-Murray, Tom Bellchambers, Nick O’Brien, Travis Colyer, Leroy Jetta, Ben Howlett, Kyle Hardingham

In: N.Lovett-Murray, L.Jetta, K.Hardingham, N.O’Brien
Out: J.Watson (collarbone)

Bombers lose Watson for four weeks

Essendon are facing up to having Jobe Watson on the AFL sidelines for a month with a broken collarbone, with the skipper due to have surgery on Monday.

Essendon remain in third spot on the ladder following Sunday’s 18.10 (118) to 12.16 (88) win over eighth-placed Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium as the Bombers soldiered on without the 2012 Brownlow Medallist, who was subbed out during the first quarter.

“He’s got a cracked collarbone,” Essendon coach James Hird said on Sunday night.

“They’ll try to operate on that first thing tomorrow morning. You’d think it would be at least three or four weeks.”

“He’s a huge loss for us.

“The one positive out of tonight through that injury was a lot of other players stood up and took the slack from a leadership point of view.”

Hird paid credit to defender Cale Hooker for his best-afield performance and also praised midfielders David Zaharakis and Brendon Goddard.

Port kicked 3.9 to Essendon’s 5.3 in the last quarter and closed within 11 points at the 22-minute mark of the final term before out-of-contract big man Tom Bellchambers kicked his fourth and fifth goals to seal the win for the Bombers.

Fourth-placed Sydney will be sweating on a leg injury to key forward Sam Reid after the Swans beat Melbourne 16.20 (116) to 13.7 (85) at the MCG on Sunday.

Fiery small forward Hayden Ballantyne kicked five goals in fifth-placed Fremantle’s 15.10 (100) to 11.4 (70) win over a below-strength St Kilda line-up at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

Geelong beat Hawthorn 11.16 (82) to 10.12 (72) in their top-of-the-table clash at the MCG on Saturday night in front of more than 85,000 fans. The second-placed Cats claimed their 11th consecutive victory over Hawthorn who suffered only their second loss for the season.

Carlton’s finals hopes haven’t improved following their 17.16 (118) to 12.5 (77) loss to seventh-placed Collingwood on Friday night.

The 11th-placed Blues are hopeful key forward Jarrad Waite will be fit for next Saturday night’s clash with St Kilda despite suffering bone bruising to his left knee.

North Melbourne (10th) upset sixth-placed Richmond 19.14 (128) to 8.18 (66) on Saturday, with Taylor Hine playing a crucial tagging role on Richmond’s backline playmaker Brett Deledio.

Jonathan Brown kicked three goals in Brisbane’s 17.14 (116) to 12.11 (83) win over Gold Coast in a bruising encounter at the Gabba on Saturday night.

And four-goal forward Josh Kennedy was the hero for West Coast with a last-minute major in his side’s 11.9 (75) to 9.15 (69) win over Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

Western Bulldogs pipped the win-less Greater Western Sydney 13.9 (87) to 12.11 (83) in Canberra after the last-placed Giants had led at every change.