North Melbourne and Fremantle locked in their final teams for round 13 on Saturday, with the Roos making one change and the Dockers making three before the 12.15pm AWST start at Hands Oval in Bunbury. Zac Fisher came into North Melbourne's side for Finn O'Sullivan, who was out with concussion.
The match is being played in Bunbury as North Melbourne's home game during its WA sojourn, and the timing gives the fixture immediate weight after both sides arrived with momentum. North Melbourne had just produced its second-biggest comeback victory in club history against Gold Coast before the bye, while Fremantle came in after strengthening its claim as the team to beat by beating the two-time reigning premiers away on Brisbane's home deck.
Fremantle's reshuffle brought Hayden Young, Jaeger O'Meara and Oscar McDonald into the side, with Brennan Cox, Matthew Johnson and Chris Scerri omitted. It is the sort of selection call that suggests the Dockers are still managing balance even while the results keep moving their way. North Melbourne, meanwhile, kept its adjustment minimal, sticking with a winning group aside from the enforced O'Sullivan absence.
The Dockers' changes also point to the shape of the month ahead. They are set to spend about a month closer to home starting with North Melbourne, then carrying on to the Cats and Suns after the bye, a stretch that will say plenty about whether this form can hold against fellow top-four challengers. For North Melbourne, the question is simpler and more immediate: whether the comeback energy that carried it past Gold Coast travels to Bunbury and survives contact with a Fremantle side that has been hard to shake.
