North Melbourne opened the season against Essendon and between Round 1 and 20, both teams have experienced wild fluctuations in form and personnel.

Looking back on the season opener is an interesting exercise simply to spot the differences.

Eight Essendon players from Round 1 were missing against Adelaide on Sunday with another in Ben Howlett injuring his hamstring and missing this week as a result.

It's the loss of Howlett which will sting the Bombers in close. His ability to block and create space for captain Jobe Watson is an underrated skill which Essendon will be without for the first time this season. But it's not just Howlett who the Essendon midfield will miss.

David Zaharakis has been out since Round 10 and was enjoying a breakout run. Although individually important, he also helped the other midfielders become more of a threat.

Opposition faced the decision regarding which outside midfield to shut down. Even if they elected to tag Stanton and Zaharakis, then Watson would be off the leash. Using three taggers is not really an option if you want to kick a big score. Now it seems, and with respect to the Bombers' other mids, Jobe Watson would be the only player in consideration for a tag with Zaharakis still out and Stanton not named in the lineup.

Still in the middle and Todd Goldstein and Hamish McIntosh were outpointed by Patrick Ryder and David Hille in Round 1. It's another area which will be extremely different. Ryder was another on the Bombers' injury list and won't be back this Sunday, while Hille looks to have been overtaken in the best 22 with Tom Bellchambers playing solo ruck.

However Essendon has named Hille, so it could be looking to use him in an effort to double team and exhaust Todd Goldstein. Thankfully for North, this is something the young ruckman is very familiar with.

If Hille isn't brought in, it will end up being a duel between Goldstein and Bellchambers. The Essendon ruckman has averaged a shade more than 35 hitouts in the last month and despite the midfielders at his feet not being first choice, they still get plenty of supply.

While it is a limited sample size, the lengthy injury toll has led to a shift in the way Essendon has played in its last six quarters. At half-time against Hawthorn, the Bombers only had three goals to their name and were struggling. Possibly because of the big deficit, the second half saw an element of throwing caution to the wind.

Six goals in the third quarter indicated the shackles were off and while it wasn't enough to stop an 94-point loss, a smaller forward line against Adelaide also resulted in a nine-goal first half. While that again wasn't enough to stop a heartbreaking four-point loss, a factor was being one short on the bench for a large period of time.

Whatever the outcome, once again, North and Essendon face-off in a must win game with huge ramifications.