The Bombers are expecting the Bulldogs to come out with their “claws sharpened” this Friday night in what is shaping as one of the matches of the round. And a fired up opposition isn’t the only hurdle the Bombers will face after coach Kevin Sheedy revealed tonight that captain James Hird is almost certain to miss the game. There was better news on the Damien Hardwick front with the star defender expected to play despite missing training tonight with the flu.

Coach Kevin Sheedy said he expects the Bulldogs to come out firing after going down to Carlton last weekend. “We won’t be surprised if they come out and play their best game of footy and really put it to Essendon” Sheedy said. And the Bulldogs won’t be intimidated by Essendon this weekend – they were the only side to down Essendon in 2000.

The Bulldogs flooded extensively in last year’s match however Sheedy said the Bombers had themselves to blame for losing the match rather than opposition tactics. “Last year we probably didn’t use the ball well and they were rewarded with that win after getting two or three goals from ordinary free kicks” he said. Sheedy said last year’s match won’t be reviewed in the lead-up to this Friday night. “I think a lot of that preparation will be done mentally by the players,” Sheedy said.

One of the interesting duels this weekend will be between established Bulldog star Luke Darcy and emerging young Bomber David Hille. Sheedy rates Hille highly. “He doesn’t get as much ground time as say Josh Fraser from Collingwood, but I’d say he’s equal to him in terms of hit outs and handpasses” Sheedy said.

Sheedy said the Essendon players got a rude wake up call in the opening term of last weekend’s match against Fremantle. “I think we had a rude awakening from Fremantle and I don’t believe we are playing any where near our best football at the moment.” Sheedy said. “That reminded us that in the blink of an eye you can be four zip and even though we got out of a loss last week, we know we’re not going to get away with it against the teams we have in the next few weeks.”