AUSTRALIAN coach Mick Malthouse says he isn't concerned about a late decision to reduce the size of the ground for Saturday night's first International Rules Test against Ireland.
The ground at Limerick's Pairc Na nGael Stadium was noticed to be shorter and slightly narrower than the usual Gaelic field dimensions at the Australian team's training session on Friday.
While it is smaller than Cork's Pairc Ui Rinn - the venue of Wednesday night's practice match, it is the same size as the Subiaco pitch used in the 2008 series.
Malthouse said it wouldn't affect his preparation for the clash, which is expected to draw a crowd of around 45,000.
"At the end of the day, we play at Subiaco which is the longest ground in the competition and the SCG, which is the shortest ground in the competition," he said.
"We hardly ever worry about length or width of grounds in our competition.
"It would be different if you had something that was structured, set, and that's what it's got to be. As we know in Australian rules, there's been no consistency whatsoever with any ground.
"We're hardly going to worry about whether something is five metres or 10 metres shorter than what we played on on Wednesday, or 20 metres for that matter. There's no real problem with us whatsoever."
The decision was believed to have been made in an attempt to reduce the running space available for the Australians as well as ensure the defence is constantly under pressure.
However, Ireland's team manager Anthony Tohill said he the move wasn't a tactical win for his side.
"I don't think it makes any difference, really," he said.
"I think it's good to have consistency between what happens when we go to Australia and what happens here.
"I don't really think it's an advantage either way. It might give the Australians better options to lay more tackles than our guys, which is a big part of their game.
"I don't think we'll be able to stop them running. They've got a team of perfectly fit athletes.
"We don't have the players at our disposal who will be able to match them yard for yard in the running game, so we'll just play to our strengths and do what we can do to thwart Australia as best we can."
Tohill said the Irish side was fit and ready to go and had no injury concerns.
However, Australian midfielder David Wojcinski (ankle) failed to train on Friday and forward Travis Varcoe was restricted to static work after hurting his shoulder in Cork.
"They certainly didn't finish the game on Wednesday but we're fairly optimistic if needed, they'll play," Malthouse said.
"We will run the same program policy I have a Collingwood - no risks. There's no use taking players in that can't get through a game."
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