North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell will miss Saturday's clash against Essendon after being ruled out due to injury. 

"He's just battered and we'll manage him this week, much to his disgust," Brad Scott said on Thursday.

"As I said to Jack, if he was was on crutches he'd still want to go out there and lead the team.

"I haven't seen anyone in my time in footy do what he's been able to do this year, in terms of carrying things that would keep lesser players out.

"It's not just one thing. It's a multitude of things. He's disappointed, but part of my job is to sometimes protect players like him from themselves." 

North will make a minimum of three changes, with defenders Mitch Hibberd (shoulder) and Corey Wagner (ankle) out for the season and up to a month, respectively. 

Scott said the Roos still had plenty to gain from the remaining games. 

"There's a hell of a lot we can get out of (the season)," he said. 

"I think we have played the equal-first number of debutants so far this year, so we get to look at different players. Daniel Nielson will play again this week and was really impressive in his first two games.

"We're really looking to get a lot out of the second half of the season, in terms of the standards we set. Whether that means winning, losing or drawing – it's the way we go about it that's going to be the most important thing.

"It's been a challenging year for us, but we need to build and continue to build that platform for the future."