Saturday fourth AFL Round 23 match is between Essendon Bombers and Richmond Tigers with the game to be played at MCG. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:40pm local time with away team Richmond Tigers currently holding favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Essendon Bombers and Richmond Tigers.

WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, 7:40pm AEST, Saturday 31 August

Opening odds comparison:

Essendon Bombers	2.90	N/A	N/A	N/A	2.90	N/A
Richmond Tigers	1.40	N/A	N/A	N/A	1.40	N/A

Preview:

Essendon play Richmond on Saturday, 7.40pm at the MCG. The Tigers will be expected to win here, currently sitting in 5th ladder position just ahead of Collingwood.
Once again, the off-field controversy will play a role this week for the Bombers, although it didn’t seem to worry them too much last week as they snatched victory
against the Blues. With Essendon having to forfeit their place in the finals, however, confidence will be at an all time low.

Teams:

Essendon Bombers:
B: Baguley Hurley Pears
HB: Dalgleish Hooker Goddard
C: Hibberd Watson Stanton
HF: Hardingham Carlisle Crameri
F: Merrett Ryder Davey
FOLL: Hille Melksham Zaharakis
I/C: Howlett Lovett-Murray Kavanagh Jetta
EMG: O’Brien Browne Ashby
In: Nathan Lovett-Murray, David Hille, Leroy Jetta, Elliott Kavanagh
Out: Nick Kommer (hand), Joe Daniher (omitted), Heath Hocking (suspension), David Myers (illness)

Richmond Tigers:
B: Morris Rance Grimes
HB: Houli Chaplin Petterd
C: Grigg Cotchin Jackson
HF: Vlastuin A Edwards Ellis
F: White Vickery Martin
FOLL: Maric Deledio Conca
I/C: Foley Stephenson King Tuck
EMG: Nahas Lonergan Dea
IN: Orren Stephenson, Shane Tuck
OUT: Shane Edwards (suspension), Jack Riewoldt (back)

AFL Bombers’ penalties cut deep: Goddard

Essendon AFL midfielder Brendon Goddard says the club’s non-participation in next month’s finals series because of the supplements scandal is a gut-wrenching blow.

Goddard said the relative youth of the club’s playing list meant they could focus simply on winning matches despite the ongoing crisis, until the strain became too much as the Bombers crashed out of the top four with four successive losses in rounds 18 to 21.

“It was almost like the bubble burst,” Goddard told the Nine Network’s The Footy Show on Thursday night.

“When that final date (for this week’s AFL Commission meeting) came out for the boys they got quite anxious.

“We talked about starting to prepare for the worst.

“It got to a point where it felt like the bubble burst and the guys just let out a sigh of relief and that reflected in our footy in our performances.

“We did a tremendous job to get in the position where we were and then we had that month where we really struggled in second halves of games.

“You could see in the boys’ eyes that they were just deflated and they were struggling to get through the game.”

Goddard joined the Bombers in late 2012 on a four-year in a desperate search for a flag after the near miss of a drawn grand final with St Kilda in 2010.

This week the league suspended Essendon coach James Hird for 12 months, took Essendon out of this year’s finals, fined the Bombers $2 million and docked them draft picks.

Essendon have a 14-7 win-loss record ahead of their last-round clash with Richmond on Saturday night, but they’ll be officially deemed to have finished ninth in 2013.

Goddard said he knew before last week’s upset win over Carlton that the Bombers would probably be stripped of their finals berth.

“A few of us went into that game knowing what was probably to come,” Goddard said.

“It was difficult playing that game and more so getting up for this week. It’s gut-wrenching and really deflating.

“I was very angry last Saturday night before the game and really frustrated with what was to come.”

Goddard said he wasn’t sure where his anger was directed.

“For some reason I was just really really angry on how it was going to turn out,” the two-time All-Australian added.

Goddard said some of the media reports about possible drug use at Windy Hill during the 2011-12 pre-season were almost laughable.

“As a footy club we’ve tended just to ignore a lot of things that have been said in the paper,” he said.