• Selected team

Where and when: MCG, Friday, July 3, 7.40pm
Head to head: Collingwood 117 wins, Essendon 98 wins, four draws
Last time: Essendon 13.15 (93) d Collingwood 12.16 (88), round five, 2009, at the MCG

MISSING IN ACTION
Collingwood
Brent Macaffer (knee) – test
John McCarthy (hamstring) – 1 week
Sean Rusling (hip flexor) – 2 weeks
Anthony Rocca (achilles) – 2-3 weeks
Johnny Bennell (broken collarbone) – 4-6 weeks

FORM
Collingwood: WWWWW
Essendon: WLLWW

SUMMARY
The Magpies are flying. Five victories on the trot and a percentage-boosting win over Fremantle has confidence at season-high levels down at the Lexus Centre. Collingwood thumped Freo last weekend and that was without Leon Davis and Scott Pendlebury. Both are back against the Bombers. The even spread of contributors must be most pleasing for Mick Malthouse. His side had 13 goalkickers last week, and there doesn’t appear to be too many deficiencies in the black and white camp. Importantly, its forward half looks among the more potent in the AFL.

Essendon has defied expectation this season. Not many saw last week’s drubbing of Carlton coming; no-one saw the massive margin. Matthew Knights has a young list that plays exciting football and believes in his methods. The likes of Tayte Pears and Cale Hooker are unlikely to strike much fear into opposition coaches or fans, but they are getting the job done most weeks. Meanwhile, Essendon’s more experienced players continue to deliver. The blend of youth and experience is working for the Dons, but this week could provide their sternest test since the Cats.

QUESTION MARKS
Essendon’s defence will face a very different challenge this week when they face the more fleet-footed Collingwood forwards. Do they have the small defenders to cover the Magpies’ attacking arsenal?

Anzac Day proved to be Patrick Ryder’s ‘coming out’ game as he was forced into the ruck when teammate David Hille went down with a knee injury. Can he again exert himself and will his side across the line?

There were 84,829 people crammed into the MCG in round five to watch these two teams play. Will more turn out to watch these two league powers slug it out in round 14?

Mick Malthouse – on Anzac Day and facing the Bombers again
“You don’t get one back because you don’t make up what you have lost but ... our option taking at the end of the game was quite poor and we paid a supreme penalty.

“We know that they are an exciting team, we know that they’re a quick side, we know that they’re a quick-scoring side.

“They don’t really fear sides; they seem to want to back themselves. That’s a characteristic of the way they’ve gone about it this year and full credit to them.”

VFL
Collingwood’s VFL team, ninth on the ladder, desperately needs a win when it tackles Frankston (11th) on Sunday. The two teams meet at Frankston Park, with the first bounce at 2pm.

Collingwood VFL line-up
B: Kevin Dyas, Tobias Thoolen, Scott Reed
HB: Anthony Corrie, Ben Reid, Ben Johnson
C: Jaxson Barham, Steele Sidebottom, Jarrod Blight
HF: Ryan Cook, Chris Dawes, Danny Stanley
F: Jarryd Blair, Chris Bryan, Shannon Cox
Foll: Cameron Wood, Tristan Francis, Martin Clarke
I/C (from): Daniel Nicholls, Damian Peverill, Tom Sunburg, Ryan Colbert, Luke Walker, Lachlan Keeffe, Kris Pendlebury, Luke Rounds

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.