North Melbourne fielded its youngest team in more than five years in Saturday’s clash against Essendon.

A team featuring 12 players with under 50 games’ experience and seven with fewer than 10 AFL caps was in the game all day, but fell short by 27 points.

The future of the club was on show as Josh Williams and Nick Larkey debuted - the former booting a goal with his first kick in AFL football.

Cam Zurhaar, Sam Durdin, Daniel Nielson, Declan Mountford and Jy Simpkin were also in action, having made their debuts earlier in 2017.

It was the Roos’ most youthful and inexperienced team since 2012, with an average age of 24 years and 109 days, and an average games played figure of just 75.

North had the third least-experienced side across the league this round, with the most players under 10 and 50 games respectively.

The inclusions of Larkey and Williams saw North as the club with the most AFL debutants, 10, in 2017, its equal-highest figure since 2001. The Roos have now had 12 new Shinboners take the field this season.