It’s been yet another torrid week off the field for the Bombers. Despite the season of drams, the playing roster has done a fantastic job on the field to produce the results they have, which include winning six of their past seven games.
You wonder how long they can shoulder the circus that surrounds the club though, especially as the focus turns to finals football.
Last week they felt the full force of Hawthorn 143 – 87 and with North, Carlton and Richmond part of their run home to the finals, the Bombers will need to win more than their share if they are going to finish with a coveted top four spot.
Collingwood continue a year of inconsistent performance and after losing to Gold Coast in round 17, had to come from behind at the major break and only put GWS away in the final quarter last week.
They will not be afforded that opportunity here against a side that has lost only four games this year.
Last time these two sides met in round 5 this year, Essendon were comfortably victors (121 – 75) and whilst that was their first win against Collingwood in a number of years, they can go back-to-back here.
Odds comparison by AFL Odds:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 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 |
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