North Melbourne has been forced to make one change ahead of Saturday's Round 16 match against Hawthorn.

North Melbourne will be without Charlie Comben for the clash with the Hawks at UTAS Stadium in Launceston.

A sore shoulder sees the defender come out of the side that beat Carlton last weekend.

Defender Wil Dawson comes in for his first AFL game of the season, off the back of a standout performance last week in the VFL, which saw him finish with 12 disposals, nine marks and seven intercepts.

Veteran Jack Darling has been named to play, despite sustaining a cut to the shin in last week’s win over Carlton.

Riley Hardeman, Robert Hansen jnr, Luke Parker, Zac Fisher and Dawson have been named on the interchange bench, with one of the five to be named substitute an hour before Saturday's first bounce at 4.15pm AEST.

Callum Coleman-Jones, Will Phillips and Cooper Harvey are the three emergencies.