Essendon's much vaunted defence faces its biggest challenge of season 2001 this weekend, according to Bombers assistant coach Mark Harvey. Essendon's defence is rated number one in the competition after six rounds in terms of points scored against but Harvey said this Saturday's blockbuster against the Tigers will be the real test. ""It's undoubtedly our biggest test defensively - they have been good the past couple of weeks but they will need to lift again on Saturday,"" Harvey said.

Richmond is one of the few sides in the competition that has the height to stretch the Essendon defence. Matthew Richardson (197cm), Brendan Gale (193), Ray Hall (196), Ben Holland (197) and Brad Ottens (201) form a formidable tall brigade. It is possible four of them could line-up in the forward 50m. ""There is no doubt they have plenty of height but we can counter that by bringing the ball the ground level,"" Harvey said. ""If we can do that we should be able to run the ball out and hopefully set something up.""

The Bombers have a number of options down back but just who lines up on who is something Harvey wouldn't discuss. ""We have a few tall options down back,"" he said. ""Aaron Henneman, Dustin Fletcher, Sean Wellman and possibly Paul Barnard. We could also look at bringing in a David Hille or a Dean Wallis."" It would seem certain that Fletcher will take the best forward in Matthew Richardson. The other seemingly obvious match-up would see young guns Henneman and Ottens do battle.

Richmond has an excellent running brigade in the middle with Joel Bowden, Wayne Campbell, Greg Tivendale, Mark Chaffey and Matthew Knights. All but Campbell are left footers and they don't mind kicking a long goal. ""Statistics show they don't mind having a dip from outside 50m so we will have to be wary of that. Our midfielders will need to work hard on putting them under pressure.""

This blockbuster clash between the Bombers and the Tigers is shaping as a sell-out and will tell us just how well the Bombers are playing and just how much the Tigers have improved. Either way there is little likelihood of a repeat of last season's round 17 clash between the two sides - it was a game Essendon won by 101 points.