It has been a few years coming, but Essendon and Richmond fans can look forward to an exciting blockbuster between two emerging sides playing for more than pride at the MCG this Saturday.

Both teams have struck some good form and are looking to post their seventh win of the season but more significantly, Bomber fans are wondering if Essendon can post their fifth consecutive win and keep their slim finals hopes alive.

Having turned around an eight-game losing streak, the Bombers are running high on confidence and have a number of players - including David Hille, Sam Lonergan and Andrew Welsh - who are putting their bodies on the line to re-instate some pride in the club.

Mark McVeigh has played a pivotal role in turning Essendon’s season around and his absence through a knee injury will create a void in the Bombers' midfield, as will the suspended Andrew Lovett.

The Bombers have 15 players out of the side through injury and suspension, however Matthew Knights is confident he has the artillery for an intense battle with Richmond.

Any Bomber that played in the last encounter with Richmond (Dreamtime at the 'G) would still have it fresh in their minds. The game became an extremely one-sided affair and saw Knights give the team his most forceful public spray.

But in many ways, it was a turning point in Essendon’s season and caused them to take a serious look at their less than impressive performances over a number of weeks.

The team went back to basics, playing a much more accountable brand of football and were also bolstered by the return of Scott Lucas.

Lucas has straightened the team up and his return, along with Matthew Lloyd growing into his new, more mobile role, has seen the Bombers become much more dangerous around goals.

With the emerging Jay Neagle and in-form Adam McPhee combining with a confident Leroy Jetta and Angus Monfries, Essendon's forward line looks like a winning combination and will test the Tigers' low profile backs.

Hille has been in All-Australian form and will wage an exciting ruck battle with Victorian representative Troy Simmonds. Hille's influence will be crucial, as will Jobe Watson and Brent Stanton as they do battle around stoppages with Richmond’s Richard Tambling, Brett Deledio, Nathan Foley and Trent Cotchin.

Kyle Reimers will provide a spark around the ground and if Welsh can take another scalp - probably Foley's - the undermanned Bomber's can more than match it in the middle.

One area in which the Bombers have been able to remain relatively settled is the back-line.

Dustin Fletcher, Patrick Ryder and Nathan Lovett-Murray have been very solid over the past month and have the task of stopping rising star Jack Riewolt and the improving Cleve Hughes. While that duo can kick goals, it's the Tigers' smalls that hurt opposition teams most.
 
Nathan Brown combines well with Mitch Morton, Deledio and Tambling, who can prove deadly when they get going.
 
Henry Slattery, Jay Nash and Adam Ramanauskas will face a major test and, perhaps more than anyone else, will need to hold their opponents for the Bombers to win.
 
It will be an old fashioned Victorian classic at the MCG with the growing hope of finals there for the winner.
 
The Essendon team is:
 
Backs: Ramanauskas Fletcher Lovett-Murray
Half-backs: Slattery Ryder Nash
Centres: Reimers Watson Welsh
Half-forwards: Jetta Lloyd Lucas
Forwards: Monfries Neagle McPhee
Rucks: Hille Lonergan Stanton

Bench: Atkinson Dyson Laycock Peverill

Emergency: Hooker Magin Michael