Fox Footy’s David King has warned that Richmond may have negatively impacted their culture long-term by playing Noah Balta in their 11-point win against the Gold Coast Suns at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
Balta, who is awaiting sentencing and faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to assault in a New South Wales court following an incident late last year, was greeted with a chorus of boos from fans as he collected 14 disposals in his first AFL appearance of the year.
The Tigers handed the 25-year-old had a four-game suspension to start the season, but with that ban served, they recalled him to the senior side to bolster their back line after playing in a VFL practice match last week.
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Adem Yze and his coaching staff would be pleased with what Balta delivered on field as ten of his possessions were intercepts, the third most on the ground, and he reeled in four contested marks, the equal second most in the match.
The Tigers’ defence repelled the previously unbeaten Suns, who had 20 more Inside 50s for the game and have the highest percentage in the competition as they booted 120 points or more in three of their four previous outings, keeping them to just 69 points.
Wayward kicking inhibited Damien Hardwick’s side, kicking 9.15, but Balta’s addition to the yellow and black line-up was clearly important.
His influence led to a passionate debate between Fox Footy’s Super Saturday Live panel, with Jay Clark hailing Balta keeping Ben King, who leads the Coleman Medal alongside Fremantle’s Josh Treacy, to just one goal as “pretty extraordinary”.
“It was noticeable the boos. I’d imagine it’d be unsettling for the player himself … in terms of his performance tonight, it was pretty extraordinary really,” Clark said.
“To be dealing with that and the last six weeks, to come up and stand up like that in the backline and shut down Ben King. It was one of the performances of the year.”
Balta’s premiership teammate Jack Riewoldt responded by saying, “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”.
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Clark then doubled down on his comments, by saying the Tigers would feel vindicated by their decision to play Balta, despite widespread backlash including from Victorian premier Jacinta Allan, as they picked up their second win of the season.
“It shows why Richmond wanted to play him so much,” Clark said.
“They think his penance has been served and he’s paid his price… as a football club they’ll feel validated by tonight and the decision they’ve made, because they’ve faced a lot of scrutiny over it including from us.”
King then weighed in with his view that Richmond may have traded off long term pain for a short term gain.
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The Tigers’ wins over the Suns and Carlton have been sparked by their younger brigade with the likes of speedy small forward Seth Campbell and No.1 draft pick Sam Lalor showing plenty of promise.
North Melbourne two-time premiership player King believes the development of their young talent should not have been risked by playing Balta.
“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,” he said.
“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?”
Balta faces sentencing in court on April 22 with Richmond playing Melbourne on Anzac Day Eve at the MCG just two days later.
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