The Bombers will be looking to extend a string of five wins dating back to round 20, 2007 on Saturday night but Jamison, who will captain the Blues in Chris Judd's absence, is confident they have developed a strategy to effectively combat the opposition's run.

"They play a really attacking style of football and they've probably beaten us on turnovers more than anything in the past," Jamison said.

"So we'll be looking to really slow them up hopefully and not kick too many goals from our mistakes.

"We're trying to control the momentum of the game a bit better [this season] and not the whole time being out-and-out attack so if we can slow the game and keep it the way we want to play it, it will go a long way."

The Blues' poor record against the Bombers is particularly galling to their fans, but while acknowledging the significance of the contest, Jamison said the side was conscious to not overplay the rivalry during their preparation.

"Any time we play Essendon it's an important game," he said.

"If we haven't won a game for the year and we play them in round 22 it's an important game.

"It's such a big rivalry and I don't think we've beaten them for [nearly] three years, but we're not building it up too much. We don't want to place extra emphasis on it [more than] any other game, but obviously it has that little bit of passion in it as well.

"It's our first home game for the year, we're expecting to get a big crowd there and hopefully turn the tide a little bit."

Jamison has come a long way from the days when he was scrapping for a rookie berth with Carlton ahead of the 2007 season.

It wasn't long before he was the first-choice full back and his stature has consistently grown within the club to the point where he is set to become part of an elite group.

"It's pretty humbling to be honest and, if anything, maybe a little bit embarrassing to know I'll be captaining the Blues when so many great players in the past have [done the same]," he said.

"But the only thing I'll be doing differently this week is maybe going out to the middle and tossing the coin.

"I think year 10 intermediate football back in Ballarat was the last time I skippered a side. I enjoyed it then and I'm really looking forward to just enjoying it on the weekend. It's probably not something that will sink in until I finish playing."