Josh Goater headlines a raft of inclusions for North Melbourne's VFL clash with Casey on Sunday, with the defender proving his fitness after suffering a concussion against Carlton two weeks ago.

The first-year player returns to the side alongside fellow defender Kyron Hayden, who missed last week's Geelong clash due to his role as a travelling emergency for the senior side as they took on Fremantle in Perth.

It's a case of two listed players in and two out for the side though, as Charlie Comben and Jacob Edwards both miss the clash.

Comben has been managing a knee issue for several weeks and was unable to prove his fitness ahead of this weekend's game, while young ruck/forward option Edwards is being managed.

Edwards' and Comben's absences, coupled with the use of Callum Coleman-Jones in the senior side means Zach Monkhorst looks set to shoulder a heavy ruck load against the Demons.

Mat Walker will be hoping to continue his strong form after seven goals in his last two games, including three majors in the first quarter of last week's wet-weather clash with Geelong.

High-flying Demons

The 2016 Bulldogs were the last team to win the AFL and VFL premiership double, and at this early stage of the season the Demons are well-placed to repeat the achievement.

Both the Melbourne and Casey Demons' men's programs currently sit undefeated on top of their respective ladders. Both sides contain players who are among their competition's best.

Casey forward Mitch Brown marked his 150th VFL appearance with a best-on-ground performance last week, kicking six goals in his side's 30-point win over Southport.

If you factor in the Demons talent pushing for a place in the reigning AFL premiership side like Adam Tomlinson, Sam Weideman, Oskar Baker, Jake Melksham and impressive first-year player Jacob van Rooyen, they are a scary prospect at any level right now.

While the Demons' rebuild from their struggles in the 2010s may provide motivation for the rebuilding Roos, North's immediate task is to deliver their very best against the VFL's most confident side.

>> Full VFL fixture and results

Stepping up in midfield

For much of this VFL campaign North Melbourne's midfield has been supplemented with high-quality AFL-listed talent. In each of the last four games a combination of Will Phillips, Tom Powell and Jed Anderson have been included in the side, and they've been strong performers in their respective matches.

However Powell and Anderson have earned senior call-ups this week and illness has sidelined Phillips, meaning none of the trio will be running out in the VFL.

While it will be interesting to see how North's VFL-listed players cope in the midfield without the trio, the Roos' midfield remains their strongest line.

Co-captains Harry Jones and Kade Answerth have proven they are high-quality VFL talents and Dom Tyson's talents are well documented.

Jones, who played one senior game for Hawthorn in 2020, is coming off a best-and-fairest winning season for the side and has only improved this season, while Answerth has developed a reputation for being one of the most consistent performers at VFL-level over several years.

While senior listed players Charlie Lazzaro and Josh Goater can also run through the middle of the ground, seeing Jones, Answerth and Tyson at the coalface is an exciting prospect for Kangaroos fans.

Sunday, May 15

North Melbourne v Casey Demons, Arden Street Oval at 12pm AEST

B: 37. Kyron Hayden, 41. M McGuinness, 53. M Hore
HB: 34. J Archer, 31. J Goater, 64. S Collins
C: 31. P Walker, 46. D Tyson, 59. J Lipscombe
HF: 35. C Lazzaro, 48. H Murphy, 56. Y Dib
F: 47. M Walker, 70. J Watkins, 60. J Guthrie
R: 66. Z Monkhorst, 49. H Jones, 54. K Answerth

I/C: 50. H Dick, 57. C Smith, 58. B Stevens, 61. M Mitchell-Russell, 74. J Boyd
23rd player: 57. C Smith

Emg: 55. C Hinkley, 64. D Stone, 71. T Howard, 75. C Weightman

Ins: 31. J Goater, 37. K Hayden, 50. H Dick, 57. B Stevens, 68. D Stone, 71. T Howard, 74. J Boyd
Outs: 24. T Powell, 30. C Comben, 32. J Edwards, 78. A Wright

>> The game will be streamed live on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live Official App

The unbeaten and ladder-leading Casey proved too strong for North Melbourne's VFL side on Sunday. A brutal second half that saw the Demons kick 15 goals led them to a 110-point victory over the Kangaroos.

The experience and quality of a Casey side boasting the likes of Sam Weideman, Luke Dunstan and Adam Tomlinson proved too much for the Kangaroos in the clash, but Leigh Adams believed his side played better than in its Round 2 loss to Brisbane.

"We spoke post-game about comparing this game to the Brisbane game where we lost by a similar margin and we spoke about how, in patches, today looked a bit more like how we want to play," Adams told North Media.

"Although the scoreboard looks horrendous there were some more positive plays where we actually played how we wanted to play.

"We'll look at those bits and try to encourage the boys to keep getting better, but we also have to look at how we gave up far too many easy goals.

"It's very hard to sometimes feel like you're not leading people on when you say you're getting better after a 100-point loss, but although the scoreboard doesn't say it at times, we are actually improving."

A lack of genuine second ruck options saw Max Mitchell-Russell shift from his defensive role into a more attacking ruck/forward role and he got his side off to the perfect start with a goal in the first minute of the game. 

He was one of a raft of players to support primary ruck Zach Monkhorst in the middle of the ground, however Demons ruck duo of Majak Daw and Jack Bell proved too strong for North's rotating cast of second rucks.

"I actually came across Max at Coburg and he was a forward back then. He's been playing well as a defender for Port Colts in the last couple of years so we brought him over to play key defence for us, but the amount of AFL-listed defenders we had saw him on the outer a bit," Adams said.

"With no (Charlie) Comben or (Jacob) Edwards we needed some talls down forward and he competed really well. The thing about these games where you have limited AFL-listed players is you find a lot out about your VFL-listed boys and I thought there were some really good signs not just from him, but from some of the younger boys too."

KANGAROOS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats

One major positive for the Kangaroos this season has been the goalkicking form of Mat Walker. After four goals against Carlton and three against Geelong, he continued his strong run of form with a pair of majors against an experienced Demons defence.

Adams says Walker should continue to earn opportunities in front of goal as the midfield improves its ball movement.

"'Walks' isn't a player who's going to clunk 10 marks, he relies on ball movement a fair bit because he's such a classy and smart forward. Hopefully you could see at times our ball movement today was better and we got some good opportunities," Adams said.

"When we do get that movement right he's the one on the end of it nine times out of 10 because he is such a smart player. The better we can get our ball movement the better he's going to be for us. 

"I thought our mids in patches did OK in negating them coming out the front of the stoppage too much, but weight of numbers in hitouts eventually took its toll and they were able to get out.

"Hopefully Walks can get an injury-free year for us because he's kicking goals which is good."

The Kangaroos have a Round 9 bye to recharge and reassess a tough month of football before taking on Sandringham in Round 10.

After winning two of its opening three games of the season North has now fallen to a 2-5 record to sit 17th on the ladder.

Adams says the bye will hopefully see a number of players return from injury as he looks to continue his side's education.

"We need to get some more AFL-listed boys back, five isn't enough. Hopefully after the bye next week we can get four or five boys back in which will strengthen us and then just continue to educate all the boys about how we want the game to be played," he said.

"We just need to continue to educate all the boys about how we want the game to be played and work as hard as we possibly can to get the game on our terms for as long as possible. 

"In patches today when we got that balance right we were actually able to move the ball OK. We just have to keep looking at areas of when we get it right and why we get it right, and then go to work on the areas where we're getting it wrong to turn them around.

"Hopefully in a couple of weeks time the improvements we feel like we're getting on the training track start to show on the scoreboard."

>> Full VFL fixture and results

NORTH MELBOURNE     2.2     5.3     7.4     10.7     (67)
CASEY DEMONS             5.7     11.12     20.17     26.21     (177)

AFL-listed

Jackson Archer: Four disposals, two tackles, one clearance
Josh Goater: 12 disposals, 4 marks, two tackles
Charlie Lazzaro: 13 disposals, 4 tackles, two marks
Matt McGuinness: 10 disposals, two marks, two hitouts
Pat Walker: 11 disposals, one mark, one tackle

Best of VFL-listed

Marty Hore: 33 disposals, four marks, one goal
Harry Jones: 25 disposals, four tackles, one goal
Max Mitchell-Russell: 11 disposals, five marks, two goals
Bode Stevens: 10 disposals, two tackles, two goals
Dom Tyson: 29 disposals, nine clearances, five marks
Mat Walker: Five disposals, five marks, two goals