Richmond’s Noah Balta has been spared jail time, instead receiving an 18-month community corrections order and a criminal conviction at the Albury Local Court on Tuesday.
It comes after Balta, 25, pled guilty to assault for an incident outside a Mulwala venue last December 30.
The sanctioned CCO includes a night curfew — where he cannot leave his house between 10pm and 6am — for three months, which is set to disrupt Balta’s playing schedule as multiple night games await on the Tigers’ fixture.
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Richmond plays Melbourne in their annual Anzac Day Eve clash on Thursday night, with first bounce at 7.30pm.
The Tigers also play Essendon in Dreamtime at the ‘G from 7.40pm (Round 11, May 23), while they also have a scheduled twilight clash with GWS in Sydney starting at 4.15pm (Round 12, May 31).
Richmond also has four daytime fixtures in the period of his CCO that start at 3.20pm or earlier: Round 8 vs. Hawthorn (3.20pm), Round 9 vs. West Coast (1.10pm), Round 10 vs. North Melbourne (1.10pm) and Round 13 vs. Sydney (1.20pm).
Balta was also fined $3,000 and paid his victim $45,000 in a settlement. He is also banned from the Mulwala Ski Club, where the incident took place.
After serving a four-match suspension to begin the year, Balta made his season debut in last Saturday night’s Tigers win over Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium.
The athletic swingman played in the VFL two weekends ago after speculation over whether he’d be brought straight back into the senior side by coach Adem Yze.
He earned his recall at selection last Thursday night, as the divisive decision was met with criticism due to the fact his sentencing hadn’t yet occurred.
Balta’s former peer and 2020 premiership teammate Jack Riewoldt said last Saturday: “I think it’s good that Noah Balta played well, but I stand by the fact I don’t think he should’ve played, in the grand scheme of things”.
Two-time premiership player David King emphasised the cultural aspect of Richmond permitting Balta to return before his hearing.
“This is the exact conversation — Richmond has put four points before the cultural discussion we have every three weeks about football clubs; the standards you walk by and standards you accept, those sorts of things,” King told Fox Footy last Saturday night.
“They have put this victory before that. They made a business decision, and they get the tick and get the four points. But are there other side effects not yet coming to the surface?”
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