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North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has no plans of leaning into the Kangaroos' rivalry with Essendon ahead of their AFL clash.

North Melbourne won't have any extra motivation to beat Essendon recruits Ben McKay and Todd Goldstein when they face their former teammates for the first time, says coach Alastair Clarkson.

McKay and Goldstein joined Essendon via free agency over the off-season, and have been crucial to their rise this year.

When asked if that added extra motivation to Sunday's clash at Marvel Stadium, Clarkson said: "No, no, not really.

"Both of them effectively took advantage of the free agency they were both entitled to, and right to this point their decisions have been really, really good ones.

"We're really pleased for both those lads, they made contributions at our footy club and they did the professional thing in a sense, and that's assess their careers, took advantage of the free agency clause that's available to them and opted to go to another club.

"So while we'll be competitors tomorrow, they've been great servants of our footy club and we wish them well."

Clarkson won't lean into the rivalry between 18th-placed North and third-placed Essendon.

"Perhaps you would if the two sides were really a lot closer on the ladder," he said.

"There might be a little bit in it, but we're not going to be driving it too much."

Clarkson swung the axe on Friday, with six changes to his side - including four omissions.

With Colby McKercher (foot) already out, co-captain Jy Simpkin (quad) withdrew from the squad on Friday, along with Jackson Archer (ankle).

Will Phillips, Blake Drury, Riley Hardeman and Hugh Greenwood have been dropped.

Young tall Wil Dawson will debut, while Curtis Taylor and Miller Bergman will play their first games for the year, with Zane Duursma, Toby Pink and Eddie Ford recalled.

North will ponder a conservative approach to Simpkin and McKercher.

"He's got a really low-grade strain in a deep muscle in the quad," Clarkson said of Simpkin.

"It doesn't stop you from being able to run and do most things, but to kick full length is the concern for him.

"We'll see where that lands over the next 24 hours, but hopefully we can get him right for next week.

"We've got a bye coming up, so that's also in our mind with young McKercher as well. He's got a bit of stress in his foot and he's got a history with that from last year, so we just don't want to take a risk with that.

"We'll just see how he is as well, but with two games before the bye we'll probably look at both he and Jy - if they're no certainty, we'll just hopefully get them right for the second half of the year."