Essendon is coming off a confidence-boosting win against Melbourne last week, while North Melbourne also rebounded against Geelong.
It shapes as an intriguing contest under the Friday night lights.
These are the burning questions…
- Can the Bomber young players back up?
Only GWS fielded a less experienced side in the AFL last week, but the Dons were still able to get over the line against Melbourne.
There were a number of significant contributions from a host of young players, none more so than Joe Daniher.
He booted five goals and took a number of strong marks.
Shaun Edwards offered excellent support in the forward half while Zach Merrett produced another polished performance.
These youngsters would have gained a lot of confidence from the win and young players armed with belief are a dangerous combination.
They are capable of another quality performance but will rely heavily on the experienced core of Brendon Goddard, Brent Stanton, Michael Hurley and Cale Hooker who were instrumental in the win last Saturday.
- Can the Bombers win it on the inside?
North Melbourne boasts some of the strongest inside midfielders in the competition. Ben Cunnington leads the way and he is a force around the stoppages. He’s ranked in the top five for clearances, centre clearances and contested possessions. Jack Ziebell and Andrew Swallow are also big bodies that are able to feed the ball to the outside run of Nick Dal Santo and Shaun Higgins.
The Bombers are without Jobe Watson, David Myers and Heath Hocking who are all strong contested ball players. It’ll add to the importance of Dyson Heppell. He has the clean hands and vision needed to win the contest. Ben Howlett is as tough as they come and a tackling machine, while Zach Merrett has been spending a lot more time in the midfield this season.
Shaun McKernan’s ability to offer repeat efforts could be important because he too is a big body that can bash and crash.
- What does Michael Hurley need to do to earn an All-Australian spot?
Hurley couldn’t have done any more last week. He dominated from defence, restricting Jesse Hogan to one goal. Hurley’s composure set up many Essendon attacks and his courage curtailed Melbourne’s forward entries late in the match.
The key defender spots will be fiercely contested this season with Alex Rance, Jeremy McGovern and Harry Taylor also in good form.
Perhaps the biggest factor will be the performance of the Essendon midfield. If that group can pressure the opposition ball carriers consistently, it’ll make Hurley’s job easier and perhaps enable him to earn his first All-Australian spot.
