The North Melbourne Football Club has changed the location of its second intra-club match.

Originally scheduled to be played at Arden Street, the game on Friday, February 12 will now be held at Eureka Stadium in Ballarat from 12pm.

Chief of Football Donald McDonald says ground issues forced the club’s hand.

“It came down to the size of the oval at Arden Street,” McDonald told kangaroos.com.au.

“While the surface is fantastic and the curator Pitchcraft has done an outstanding job, the dimensions of the ground don’t help in our bid to properly prepare for the NAB Cup and season proper.”

The Kangaroos have recently trained on MCG sized ovals at South Port on the Gold Coast and Eureka Stadium in Ballarat.

“Arden Street is too narrow for us to play an intra-club match on. It will have an impact on style of play and fluency of the game. We need our players to be able to prepare in the best way possible and this is the best outcome for us,” McDonald added.

David Hale was lucky to escape serious injury after colliding with the fence surrounding the ground two weeks ago.

“There’s also the issue of the cricket pitch in the middle of the ground which poses a bit of a risk to players. It’s a hardened surface out in the middle and we try and keep off it as much as possible during training, but with an actual match, there’s no avoiding it.”

“We have plans in place to alter the dimensions of the Arden Street ground but that’s something that will take time to develop and organise. In the short term, we just have to use other ovals that are available to us for things like this.”

The Kangaroos’ second intra-club match will be held close to midday allowing the players plenty of time to return to the club for a special night with all former North players.

“This change of ground will no doubt be disappointing for our Melbourne based supporters who planned to come to Arden Street but we need to be spot on with our approach to 2010. We’d encourage all those people to come to Arden Street the following day on Saturday the 13th of February for our Family and Community day.”

The entire playing list will be at Family Day and will be available for photos, autographs and rides with all members and supporters.

North Melbourne will also hold another twilight training session on Tuesday, February 16 and the club has secured a special guest visitor whose identity will be revealed at a later date.