Essendon coach James Hird says Carlton deserve their AFL premiership favouritism and that if Blues counterpart Brett Ratten is talking up the Bombers he clearly didn’t watch them last weekend.
While both sides enter Saturday’s blockbuster at the MCG unbeaten, Hird admits Carlton’s form is superior.
The Blues are coming off a huge win over last year’s grand finalists Collingwood, while the Bombers just scraped through against last year’s wooden spooners Gold Coast.
“They’re right up there. Obviously they’re premiership favourites with Hawthorn and they deserve that right,” Hird said of the Blues.
Ratten talked Essendon up earlier this week and said the Bombers were trying to fly under the radar by downplaying their own form, but Hird disagreed.
“He obviously didn’t see us last week,” the Bombers coach countered.
The Bombers have been thrashed by Carlton in their past two meetings, including an elimination final last year.
Hird was confident his side had improved since then, but acknowledged it was still hard to pinpoint an area in which they could get an edge.
“It’s a hard one. They’re very good. I just think we need to compete, compete in the contest,” he said.
“They’re a very good contested ball team, they seem to get a lot of goals out the back, their small forwards are on fire, they’ve got good pace.
“(Chris) Judd and (Marc) Murphy are up and about, (Heath) Scotland provides great balance for them down back, so does (Bryce) Gibbs, (Chris) Yarran seems to be not too bad as well.
“They’re doing well across the board.”
Essendon’s cause is not helped by missing numerous players through injury.
Speedy backman Courtenay Dempsey was selected despite hamstring soreness and would most likely be in for a job on one of Carlton’s dangerous small forwards.
But Hird said Dempsey’s place would only be confirmed on Saturday morning, to see how he recovered from a Friday fitness test.
“He hasn’t got a hamstring strain, he was a bit tight in the hamstring, so we took him off on Saturday night,” Hird said.
“But with a guy who’s had a graft taken from a hamstring you’ve got to be a little bit careful.”
The Bombers have another huge game four days later, against injury-hit Collingwood, but Hird said they could not afford to give that clash a thought until they had played the Blues.
“We take half an eye off that and we give ourselves no chance,” he said.
“I’m excited about tomorrow, I’m excited about hopefully 90,000 people, playing Carlton at the MCG. It doesn’t get much better for Essendon supporters or Essendon players.
“Games against Carlton in the previous 15 years have been the best that we’ve played. It’s been a great rivalry.”