Brenton Sanderson

Oh, for sure.

For sure, yeah.

And that's the thing.

If they can squeeze Dacos early and not give him the ball and not find a way to get him the ball, it goes a long way to the Bombers winning.

All right, you know I love a checklist.

So what will McRae's game plan be to beat the Bombers?

Number one, if I'm Craig McRae, I'm squeezing Essendon's ball movement early.

So take away those mark chains.

I mentioned how they've gone back to more of a possession game in the last two games.

So get the game in a contest as early as you can.

So get that sort of high, aggressive forward press going.

Force Essendon wide, slow and predictable.

And I think if Essendon are forced to kick long down the line early in this game, that's a little mini win for Collingwood.

So get the ball out of their hands.

Make them force them, kick them long to a contest.

I've mentioned it all this season.

Collingwood's weakness has been winning effective clearance.

So McRae must develop a strategy to prevent Essendon getting on top in this phase of the game.

So they've only won clearances head-to-head once this season, Collingwood.

So that's one of his biggest challenges this week is how can they get on top around stoppage and clearance.