Richmond defender Noah Balta has spoken publicly for the first time since his assault sentencing was handed down on Tuesday morning.
In a video taken outside, a solemn Balta apologised for his actions, before reflecting on changes to his lifestyle he looks to implement
“I just want to take this opportunity to the victim and their family (and) also the harm I’ve caused to my family and friends,” the 25-year-old said.
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“I was under the influence, and made a judgement call which was stupid of myself … (I need to) control what I can control really, stop drinking — and this is going to go for another 18 months.
“I’m trying to get myself better (and) become better off-field to help myself.”
Balta was spared jail time earlier this week, instead receiving an 18-month community corrections order and a criminal conviction after pleading guilty to assault for an incident outside a Mulwala venue last December 30.
However the sanctioned CCO included a three-month night curfew where he cannot consume alcohol nor leave his house between 10pm and 6am. It’ll significantly disrupt Balta’s playing schedule, as the Tigers are scheduled to play multiple night and interstate games between now and the end of Balta’s curfew (July 22).
His coach Adem Yze earlier on Wednesday said a “flat” and “emotional” Balta won’t play at any level this week as he comes to terms with his assault charge sentence, with the Richmond head coach explaining why the Tigers opted against appealing an element to the star defender’s curfew during an, at times, frosty press conference.
Balta is now expected to miss the Tigers’ next game against Melbourne in the annual Anzac Day Eve clash, followed by clashes with Essendon (Round 11), the Giants (Round 12) and West Coast (Round 19). And depending on how the AFL’s floating fixture lands from Round 16 onwards, Balta could also be unavailable for matches against Adelaide (Round 16), Geelong (Round 17) and Essendon (Round 18).
Yze said Balta wouldn’t play in the Tigers’ VFL match against Casey on Thursday — and confirmed the 2020 premiership players was absent from the club on Wednesday — after a “tough day” on Tuesday, which included attending court in Albury.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Yze said Balta was “disappointed, flat, emotional”.
“It was obviously a tough day. He’s really remorseful, he accepted the decision,” Yze said.
“Now it’s about getting him amongst the group and getting an opportunity to repay the faith we’ve shown in him.”
Herald Sun reporter Lauren Wood on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle said the Magistrate’s verdict on Tuesday was a “curfew curveball (that) came out of nowhere” and caught the Tigers off-guard
Asked if he anticipated the curfew detail, Yze said: “Nah, not at all.
“You go through a case like that and we were prepared he was going to be sanctioned, it was just what they came up with. Dealing with that is part of it.
“That’s one little element to that and we’ll have to play around with that and deal with that as a club. But at the same time, we’ve got to wrap our arms around him and help him through this.”
Yze said the club considered appealing the decision but opted against it and would now set a plan for Balta “understanding which games he won’t be allowed to play”.
Noah Balta’s 10pm curfew explained | 02:10
“You go through those discussions … but but to go through an appeal process would be almost giving him the licence to get back in and that footy was more relevant than the sanction. He knew he did wrong and he was going to be punished. To go through that for another six weeks would be too hard, not only for him but for the footy club and our playing group,” Yze said.
“We accept the decision and move on.”
Yze also defended the decision for Balta to not address a media pack outside court following the verdict.
“He will speak in time,” the Tigers coach said. “It’s pretty tough to go through. There’s a fair few players that don’t like speaking in front of the media, and they’re not trained for that.
“And going through what he went through yesterday, you’re obviously a little bit worried about what he could say.
“He’ll speak when he when it’s his right time to speak and you will sense how remorseful he is.”
Yze has consistently reinforced his stance on Balta since the details of his assault emerged in January.
He doubled down on Wednesday, saying he had “no doubt” the way Richmond has handled the situation has been done correctly.
“We set a plan, we went really hard from day one with our sanction, we worked with the AFL for that sanction,” he said.
“It was always going to be, depending on what came out of the court case, on how we moved forward and we’re doing that.
Yze continued to be peppered with questions about Balta, but said he was keen to move on.
“To be fair, that’s about six questions I’ve answered about Noah,” Yze said.
“Our job right now, he’s been sanctioned, we’re going to support him from now moving forward, and we’ve got a massive game against Melbourne. No more questions. Any questions about the game?”
The Tigers’ communications department then intervened and stepped in to stop questions.
“We’ve spoken about it, we’re moving on,” Tigers media manager Nicky Malady said.
Yze confirmed Campbell Gray would debut against Melbourne on Thursday night in the traditional Anzac Day Eve clash.
— with NCA NewsWire
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