Sometimes in the depths of the AFL mid-season grind all that matters is you win.

North Melbourne's scrappy match against Richmond last Sunday was short on highlights, but it restored their season to 7-7 as they hunt their first finals appearance in a decade.

Coupled with the one-point win over West Coast the week before, it also consigned their 124-point thrashing from Fremantle to the rubbish bin.

It means the Kangaroos can look forward with growing confidence and they will start favourites on Sunday at Marvel Stadium against fierce rivals Essendon, who are a game clear at the bottom of the ladder.

"The thing for us is the opportunity that's ahead of us. We have nine weeks left, we know we can play a helluva lot better football than we have probably in our last month," veteran North defender Luke Parker told AAP.

"So we'll continue to build. But off the back of that Freo game, sometimes you just have to win a couple of scrappy ones and build the confidence, get the feeling of winning again."

Parker and fellow half-back Caleb Daniel were pivotal in the 25-point win over the Tigers. Parker racked up 30 possessions and Daniel had a game-high 40.

Richmond coach Adem Yze lamented how his team did not adjust quickly enough early in the game as North denied them possession with plenty of uncontested marks.

"We wanted to work on a few things from our last month - we thought defensively we hadn't been great, and a real emphasis on that," Parker said.

"It was probably little bit of a weird old game, but we got the job done and we'll keep working.

"We still think we have a few levels to get to yet, but it was a step in the right direction.

"At times, they got a lot of numbers back, so it was hard to get a bit of a free-flowing game."

The Bombers regained captain Andrew McGrath, Isaac Kako, Darcy Paris and Jye Caldwell, while North lost ruckman Tristan Xerri to injury.

Wil Dawson, Callum Coleman-Jones and Josh Goater come into North's side.