Jon Ralph: Noah Balta a very lucky man after court hands out punishment

Noah Balta was shocked at Tuesday’s court ruling that will see him miss multiple AFL matches. But Jon Ralph writes, the Tiger should be very grateful it wasn’t far worse.

Noah Balta should thank his lucky stars an argument that started out over a misunderstanding regarding a pizza will only cost him $100,000 and up to half a season of football.

On Tuesday Balta walked into Albury Local Court expecting the punishment that would put a full stop on his assault of an innocent man trying to break up an altercation between his brother and another reveller.

Instead he was shocked to be hit with a set of conditions that will definitely see him missing two night games and likely two interstate trips given that 10pm curfew.

If the AFL’s floating fixture from round 16 onwards goes against him, that tally might rise to seven on top of the four AFL games he has already missed.

Noah Balta has been handed his punishment in court. Picture: David Geraghty/ NewsWire

And yet Balta should have hot-stepped out of court in delight because the reality is that incident could so easily have ended his AFL career.

Had his victim fallen at another angle or one of Balta’s punches landed with more force, the result could have been catastrophic.

Magistrate Melissa Humphreys’ set of conditions — a 10pm-6am curfew — seemed deliberately imposed to lengthen his time out of football.

Even if she had little idea of his football schedule, her decision will see the community satisfied that Balta serves a more appropriate punishment.

We will never know if Richmond’s decision to play him against Gold Coast hardened her resolve to sideline him for more than the club’s self-imposed four-week ban.

And yet if Balta was shocked to be handed that curfew as part of his conviction for assault on Tuesday, at least Richmond and the star defender finally read the room.

After hours of consideration that followed his conviction for shoulder-charging a man attempting to break up a potential scuffle involving his brother, Balta and Richmond stood down.

They realised he had little chance of having those conditions overturned.

But they also sniffed the community mood that hovered somewhere between fury and contempt that Balta had been allowed to return to Richmond’s side for the round 6 victory over Gold Coast.

So Balta will definitely miss Richmond’s two marquee night games against Melbourne (Anzac Eve) and Essendon (Dreamtime at the ‘G) and away games against GWS (Canberra) and West Coast (Optus Stadium).

Balta will miss at least four more games for the Tigers. Picture: Getty Images

He will also miss round 16-18 games against Adelaide (MCG), Geelong (GMHBA Stadium) and Essendon (MCG) if those yet-to-be-scheduled games end up at night.

Richmond and the AFL had always held to the view that the four-week penalty was appropriate because Balta had admitted a set of facts, had not wavered from them, and deserved some kind of discount for his total contrition.

They knew his legal fees and $45,000 civil settlement would quickly add up to six figures.

But Richmond did not have to backflip on its initial decision when Balta’s court date was set down for the days after round six.

They needed only to make a very early call that two weeks of VFL football would be needed before Balta was ready for AFL action.

It would have saved reputational damage to the club and sidestepped a media circus for Balta.

It might have cost the club four points given Balta was brilliant against Gold Coast opponent Ben King in the nailbiter against the Suns.

But given this is such a development year for this young rebuilding side, those four points will largely be irrelevant in years to come.

Originally published as Jon Ralph: Noah Balta a very lucky man after court hands out punishment