The AFL’s recent purchase of Etihad Stadium will mean a new stadium deal for North Melbourne but the question is when, according to North CEO Carl Dilena.

“We’ll be working on it. The focus will be getting it right from ’18 onwards, and then looking at what adjustments can be made in ’17,” Dilena said on SEN on Wednesday afternoon.

“Everything at the moment is conditional on how much money is left in the pot after the CBA is completed.

“A lot of these things are put on the backburner until they sort through the CBA.”

Any new stadium deal could allow North to grow, as Dilena admitted previous years have sometimes had games which ended with the club writing a cheque to Etihad Stadium.

“It’s always the challenge as a club, there’s not a lot of fat built in to what we do, it’s a pretty lean operation.

“If the AFL can get the stadium deal right at Etihad, it just gives you a little bit of a buffer zone you can deal with and you can invest in the development of the club.

“Over the years, we probably haven’t had that ability. It’s just ‘be as lean as you can’.

North’s biggest home game at Etihad in 2017 will undoubtedly be the inaugural Good Friday clash against the Western Bulldogs.

The game is less than two months away, with preparations gathering momentum.

“There’s been a lot of meetings, a lot of discussions,” Dilena said.

“Particularly working in with the Good Friday Appeal board, which has representatives from Channel 7 and some of the other media outlets as well.

“There’s a whole host of people framing things up, with the lead in to the game, a lot of fundraising activities, supporting things like Run for the Kids.

“Working with the organisers for a bit of entertainment on the day, we’ve organised for Tim Rogers to be involved in a concert afterwards and maybe do some entertainment at the game.”

North and the Bulldogs are working closely together to make the match one to remember.

“Both teams are coming together and really framing up some great content for the day and driving the Appeal.

“On the day itself there’ll be a lot of activation around fundraising and trying to get people on board with the spirit of the occasion and donating to the cause.”