North Melbourne has made just one change to the team that defeated Geelong last Saturday night, bringing in Aaron Black in place of suspended forward Drew Petrie.
Black has earned a senior call-up for the second time this season after Petrie accepted his one-game suspension for striking Cats defender Andrew Mackie.
North coach Brad Scott said Black would be able to fill the void left by Petrie in Friday night's clash against Essendon.
"Where there's a little bit of disappointment there (with Petrie), there's some genuine excitement about Aaron Black coming back into the side on the back of some terrific VFL form," Scott told NMFC.com.au on Thursday.
"All that's been keeping him out of the side has been the form of our other key forwards and I'm really confident he's going to acquit himself well."
Black's last game for the Roos came in round five against Hawthorn and he has since played the last nine games for VFL affiliate North Ballarat.
The 24-year-old finished with three second-quarter goals against Box Hill last Saturday from his 10 touches and nine marks.
Scott said Black had been given the nod after demonstrating his ability to be a threat both in the air and at ground level.
"He's really launching at the footy in the air, he's looking like the player who played some of his best footy in his debut year of 2013," he said.
Scott said livewire Lindsay Thomas would again play for North Ballarat and would need to replicate last week's forward pressure acts before putting his name up for selection.
"Lindsay was pretty good last week, he just needs to continue to work on being an elite pressure small forward," he said.
Defender Aaron Mullett will notch his 50th game this Friday night after making a successful comeback for the Roos last weekend from pre-season shoulder surgery.
Scott said the backman fitted in well in North's back six last week despite a slow start.
"The pace of AFL footy having missed so much elite level football shocked him a little bit and he was overawed to begin with, but he settled really well into the game," he said.
"He hasn't been given his spot back into the side automatically either, so it's not only fighting back from the injury, it's fighting back to earn his spot back."
Scott confirmed small forward Robbie Nahas would be available to play for the Roosters this Saturday after being a late withdrawal for North last week with hamstring soreness.
"He's unlucky not to gain his spot back in the side (but) the good performance of the senior team means that those who performed keep their spot," he said.
Scott said defender Lachie Hansen would have to pass a fitness test before being declared fit to line up for VFL affiliate Werribee this Saturday after being sidelined with a minor hip complaint.
"We're going to prepare him to play this weekend (but) we'll make a final decision on that as late as we can," Scott said.
"If there's any doubt that he's less than 100 per cent he won't play, but if he is 100 per cent he'll play, and provided he can show his normal level of output, he'll get his spot back pretty quickly."
Team v Essendon
B: Sam Wright, Robbie Tarrant, Michael Firrito
HB: Nick Dal Santo, Scott Thompson, Jamie Macmillan
C: Ben Jacobs, Shaun Atley, Taylor Garner
HF: Aaron Black, Jarrad Waite, Jack Ziebell
F: Brent Harvey, Ben Brown, Shaun Higgins
Fol: Todd Goldstein, Ben Cunnington, Andrew Swallow
Int: Ryan Bastinac, Kayne Turner, Aaron Mullett, Sam Gibson
Emer: Lindsay Thomas, Luke McDonald, Mason Wood
In: Aaron Black
Out: Drew Petrie (suspension)
Meanwhile Essendon has made one change, bringing in Kyle Langford to replace the concussed Alex Browne.
Team v North Melbourne
B: M Baguley, A Steinberg, M Hurley
HB: M Hibberd, J Gwilt, M Gleeson
C: B Stanton, B Goddard, D Zaharakis
HF: C Hooker, P Ambrose, J Merrett
F: J Laverde, J Daniher, D Heppell
Fol: S McKernan, N O'Brien, Z Merrett
Int: K Langford, B Howlett, S Edwards, J Ashby
Emer: C Dempsey, J Giles, E Kavanagh
In: K Langford
Out: A Browne (concussion)
