Saturday’s first AFL Round 8 match is between Essendon Bombers and Brisbane Lions with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The opening bounce is set to commence at 1:45pm local time with home team Essendon Bombers currently holding long odds on favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Essendon Bombers and Brisbane Lions.
WHERE AND WHEN: Etihad Stadium, Saturday May 18, 1:45pm
Preview:
Essendon take on the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium, Saturday at 1.45pm. The Bombers are big favourites to win this match, even though they suffered a disappointing loss last week against Geelong. In contrast to a well performing Essendon team, Brisbane are sitting on 2-5 so far in 2013, and questions are being asked. While the Lions’ loss last week against West Coast did show some promise, their shaky defence will be stretched against a finely tuned Bombers attack.
Teams:
Essendon Bombers:
B: Jake Carlisle, Dustin Fletcher, Cale Hooker
HB: Elliott Kavanagh, Michael Hurley, Michael Hibberd
C: Brent Stanton, Jobe Watson, Dyson Heppell
HF: David Zaharakis, Patrick Ryder, Brendon Goddard
F: David Myers, Stewart Crameri, Jason Winderlich
Foll: Tom Bellchambers, Heath Hocking, Ben Howlett
Int: Nick Kommer, Jackson Merrett, Jake Melksham, Mark Baguley
Emerg: Nathan Lovett-Murray, Will Hams, Tayte Pears
In: Stanton, Ryder, Kavanagh, Merrett
Out: Lovett-Murray, Davey, Gumbleton, Hardingham
Brisbane Lions:
B: Mitch Golby, Daniel Merrett, Ashley McGrath
HB:Joel Patfull, Justin Clarke, Elliot Yeo
C: Jed Adcock, Brent Moloney, Pearce Hanley
HF: Dayne Zorko, Jonathan Brown, Ryan Lester
F: Jack Redden, Jordan Lisle, James Polkinghorne
Foll: Matthew Leuenberger, Tom Rockliff, Simon Black
Int: Andrew Raines, Rohan Bewick, Brent Staker, Sam Mayes
Emerg: Patrick Karnezis, Josh Green, Sam Docherty
In: Staker
Out: Green
Bombers bank on big AFL game from Ryder
Essendon’s management of key forward Patrick Ryder will come under the microscope as the Bombers host Brisbane in Saturday’s AFL clash at Etihad Stadium.
Second-placed Essendon have recalled Ryder, Brent Stanton, Jackson Merrett and Elliott Kavanagh for Scott Gumbleton (rested), Nathan Lovett-Murray, Alwyn Davey (hamstring) and Kyle Hardingham.
Ryder was controversially overlooked last week after serving a three-week suspension as the Bombers crashed to their first loss of the season at the hands of ladder leaders Geelong by 28 points.
“The dilemma or the positive we have is we’ve got some very good talls and they can’t all play in the same team,” coach James Hird told reporters on Friday.
Ryder was robbed of match practice last week because the VFL had a bye.
“We’ve certainly trained him very hard over the last four or five weeks. He has done extra match-conditioning sessions, a lot of extra running,” Hird added.
“He’s ready to go and hopefully his touch will be where it should be from the start of the game.”
Hird said Essendon’s high-performance team had indicated big forward Gumbleton needed a rest rather than a run in the VFL.
“He’s sort of at a risky stage with an injury so … we’ll rest him before that injury comes,” Hird said.
Courtenay Dempsey had been due to return from an ankle injury but has been selected in the VFL side after being out on the town on Saturday, in breach of the team’s injury-rehabilitation protocol.
“When people are in the rehab group, we don’t want them going out late at night,” Hird said.
“He wasn’t drinking heavily.
“He wasn’t thrown out of anywhere. He wasn’t doing anything wrong.
“But the standards the players have set themselves is that he shouldn’t have been out.
“He’s disappointed but he understands he broke the code the players have set.”
Brisbane (2-5 win-loss) have named Brent Staker on the bench for his first game since 2011 after a second knee reconstruction.
Hird said the Lions were dangerous opponents.
“They can score against you if you don’t defend well against them and they’ve got a very good quality group around the ball so we need to get some things right around the ball,” he said.
Brisbane’s Brownlow Medallist onballer Simon Black, who played his first game for the season last week coming off the sub’s bench, will be a key threat for the visitors.
