Father of Pat Cronin hits out at Richmond with Noah Balta eligible to make AFL return

Pressure is mounting on the AFL and Richmond to extend the suspension of Tigers defender Noah Balta, with the father of one-punch attack victim Pat Cronin hitting out at the Tigers.

Pressure is mounting on the AFL and Richmond to extend the suspension of Tigers defender Noah Balta, with the player accused of bringing the club “into disrepute” as he awaits sentencing on a summer assault charge.

Balta, 25, has pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club and will be sentenced on April 22.

His club suspension, which was handed down in January, saw him sidelined for the first four games of the season but the recent adjournment of his sentencing for another fortnight renders him eligible to play for Richmond for the next two rounds until learning his fate at Corowa Local Court.

As the club grapples with whether the premiership defender will be selected to play against Fremantle on Sunday at Barossa Park, Matt Cronin – father of Pat Cronin who was killed after he was punched in the head from behind outside a pub in 2016 – has lashed his club for what he says is inaction.

“The AFL has a terrific opportunity here to set a benchmark if you like of what is acceptable,” Cronin said on Tuesday.

“I’m really disappointed as a Richmond supporter. I sit in a Richmond members area, and I sit next to other Tigers supporters and Round 1 came around this year and we were talking about who was out, someone said ‘Balta’s out’, and I said ‘well I hope he never comes back’.

“That’s my opinion of him. He’s brought Richmond into disrepute, they’ve got some amazing young talent at the club. What message does it send to them? If I put my Christian hat on, I think, at what point can we forgive?

“But for me, the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime at the moment.”

Patrick Cronin was killed in a one-punch attack.

Cronin said he “did not have a lot of faith in sentencing” when it came to the courts, but that both the league and Richmond needed to take a stand that the courts may not.

“Two of (the six games) were served in the preseason so they don’t really count for much, do they?,” he said on 3AW.

“If they do select him this week … discretion would have been better, if they’re going to allow him to play.

“The question I guess is going to be when they do hand down whatever punishment it is, at what point is he then going to be welcomed back into the AFL community, if at all?”

He said he was “disgusted” in the act, particularly after the vision of the incident had been released and said “it would be so wonderful” if the AFL came out in support of the Pat Cronin Foundation’s campaign against coward punches.

“Heaven knows we’ve got so much violence in this world at the moment, but let’s just stop violence full stop,” Cronin said.

Balta is eligible to return this week. Picture: Mark Stewart

“If we stop violence, we stop the coward punch. That would be a good thing for everyone.”

Outgoing AFL Players’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh said the length of Balta’s suspension had been appropriate, and the Tigers utility had “a right to play this week”.

“There has been a disciplinary process there – Noah has served that out. He has a right to play this week … I don’t know whether he will,” Marsh said on Tuesday.

“He has gone through a process where he has been suspended. I think it is appropriate that (four weeks) is the length of the suspension – he has a formal process he is going through, and there will be a determination made at the end of that.

“What we all want is for Noah to come out of this experience as a better person.”

When asked why players were receiving suspensions for on-field incidents which matched the length of more serious off-field indiscretions, Marsh said: “I think that is a question for the AFL”.

“There has been a process that everyone has gone through here, and that is where it has landed,” he said.

Balta trained fully on Tuesday afternoon with Richmond’s main session scheduled for Thursday and its squad for Sunday’s clash with Fremantle to be confirmed on Thursday night.

League chief executive Andrew Dillon - who last week said the AFL was “comfortable” with Balta playing this weekend - is set to face media in Adelaide on Wednesday morning.

Originally published as Father of Pat Cronin hits out at Richmond with Noah Balta eligible to make AFL return