Roar Guru
The Essendon Bombers will do battle with the North Melbourne Kangaroos at Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 3:20pm AEST.
Essendon are coming off a 28-point win over the West Coast Eagles in Perth – a first-quarter blitz of six straight goals set up the victory for the Bombers.
Meanwhile, North Melbourne got over the line late to steal a two-point win against the Western Bulldogs last Saturday night.
A turnover by the Bulldogs in the final minute gave North Melbourne the ball, and they were good enough to transition and score through captain Jack Ziebell.
Essendon have made two changes to their side for the clash, with Mason Redman out injured and Josh Green omitted.
Patrick Ambrose and Travis Colyer come into the team, both have returned strongly from injuries through the VFL.
For the Kangaroos Billy Hartung will miss with a hamstring injury, while Paul Ahern has been omitted.
Ben Jacobs returns to the side after being a late withdrawal for concussion symptoms last Saturday and Ryan Clarke has been recalled following a month in the VFL.
The two teams appear evenly matched, North with two more wins are inside the eight, Essendon just outside and can’t really afford to fall any further back.
Round 18 2017 was the last time these two teams met, and the Bombers took home a 27 point victory.
Prediction
Essendon have two strong inclusions and should be confident after knocking off West Coast.
However, the belief North Melbourne have gained by coming from behind and beating the Western Bulldogs and the fact that a win here gives them a break on those outside the eight, should be enough to get them across the line.
North Melbourne by 9.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 3:20pm AEST.