North Melbourne say Essendon's recent poor form will be irrelevant as the two AFL sides prepare to clash at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

After an impressive start to the season, Essendon have slumped to three straight losses and the club wielded the axe on Thursday with five changes.

Kangaroos coach Brad Scott says the new inclusions mean the Bombers will be a different outfit, but he was quick to add they held "no great fears" for him.

North have made a mid-season recovery, sitting one game outside the top eight and are aiming for their third straight win.

"In terms of the sides that are around about where we've been, we think we've been really competitive and we've been able to fight in our own weight division," Scott said.

"I think Essendon have been a terrific side so far this year and their form over the last month we've completely disregarded.

"They're going to be a completely different side tomorrow - I think they've got some really good inclusions and I think they're going to be back to their best tomorrow."

Scott said the Kangaroos were at last improving week by week and "if we play the footy we know we're capable of we think we can get the job done.

"Essendon are in the same boat and we've got a lot of respect for them and some of the footy they've produced this year has been outstanding.

"But we think the sides match up fairly evenly. We respect them but at the same time they don't hold any grave fears for us."

According to Scott the ladder in the first half of the year is irrelevant and statistics would agree with him.

North opened with four consecutive losses to be in last spot but with four wins from their past seven games, have moved to 12th place, while Essendon are clinging to eighth.

The Bombers lost to Fremantle last week which prompted the match committee to drop ruckman David Hille, Andrew Welsh, Travis Colyer, Henry Slattery and Alex Browne.

Into the side come Tayte Pears, Tom Bellchambers, Brent Stanton, Heath Hocking and Sam Lonergan.

"They've got some really good inclusions," Scott said.

"It is a challenge coming back from Perth there's no doubt about that and they had a pretty challenging match against Fremantle but they've also made five changes and Jobe Watson and (Michael) Hurley came in for their first game last week.

"So I think in the last two weeks they're making about seven changes which is a fair chunk of their side."

Scott said that despite a recent lift in form, the Kangaroos were still not in a position to challenge any of the top four sides yet.

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