AFL news: Richmond coach Adem Yze on the decision not to recall Noah Balta

Despite Noah Balta awaiting sentencing for assault charges, Richmond coach Adem Yze says that isn’t the reason for the defender’s absence from their AFL side this weekend.

Richmond coach Adem Yze says it was a “footy decision” to leave Noah Balta out of the Tigers side to face Fremantle on Sunday, with the key defender awaiting sentencing for assault charges.

Balta was available to take on the Dockers at Barossa Park after his four-match ban following pleading guilty to assaulting Thomas Washbrook in NSW last December.

He will be sentenced on April 22, with Victorian premier Jacinta Allan weighing in on Balta’s availability, saying he should not be allowed to play.

Yze said the decision for Balta to play in the VFL side against the AFL Academy on Sunday was because of his limited match practice.

Noah Balta. Picture: Michael Klein

“The non-selection is just based on footy, it is pretty tough to go into an AFL game without playing any footy at all,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that we weren’t able to play him in the VFL beforehand, so this is our first opportunity to play him at any level.

“So it is just a performance (decision) he would have been playing on some really good forwards and to do that without playing any footy at all would be too hard on the kid.

“Not at all, we have obviously disciplined him, he has copped a fair whack for that, he has been dealing with it for three months.

“It is just a performance decision and the coaching staff we all thought the same.

“Put yourself in his shoes if you haven’t played a game of footy and you are coming into an AFL game against a really good team and good forwards we aren’t setting him up to perform.”

Allan described the attack by Balta as “sickening” and said it would give off a terrible message to children if he was allowed to play before he was sentenced.

Yze said Balta could play next week should he perform well for the VFL side.

“We are always going to have that selection integrity, if he plays well enough we will talk about it next week,” he said.

“I’m not sure if it is fair or not, that is just her opinion (Allan’s).

“We’ve disciplined him, it was tough for him and we went hard and now it is just a footy decision.

“We have a game to play and hopefully he plays good footy at VFL level this weekend.”

EARLIER: TIGERS MAKE CALL ON NOAH BALTA SELECTION

Richmond has backed away from allowing Noah Balta to return to senior football after a week of mounting pressure from one-punch victims’ advocates and the Victorian Premier.

Balta will not face Fremantle in the Barossa Valley on Sunday despite serving the club-imposed four-match suspension which had previously been the only obstacle in the way of his return.

But the Tigers will permit the 25-year-old to play in their VFL side against an AFL National Academy under-18s team on Sunday, saying the call to leave him out was “purely a football decision”.

Balta is awaiting sentencing on April 22 after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an off-season incident outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club in December.

Richmond had suggested it was open to selecting Balta for a two-match period in between the end of his suspension and sentencing, and AFL boss Andrew Dillon said this week he would leave the decision to the club.

Noah Balta at Richmond AFL training in Melbourne. Thursday, April 10. 2025. Picture: David Crosling

Tigers coach Adem Yze said last week that the length of Balta’s suspension had been sufficient, and the club would be ready to bring him back.

“The fact that it’s out in the media now – it happened in January. He’s been dealing with that for a long time, so we’re not going to change our verdict,” Yze said.

The refusal to rule out Balta until after his sentencing led Premier Jacinta Allan to issue an extraordinary request for an explanation from the club and AFL at a press conference on Thursday.

“How does the AFL and the Richmond Football Club answer that question about what’s going on here? What sort of message does this send to kids about what’s right and what’s wrong,” Ms Allan said as she labelled the incident a “sickening attack”.

Both Richmond and the AFL declined to respond to the Premier’s comments when contacted.

Richmond football boss Tim Livingstone said the decision not to pick Balta was “purely a football decision”.

“Noah will return through our VFL team this weekend given the time he has spent out of the game,” he said.

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— Richmond FC 🐯 (@Richmond_FC) April 10, 2025

“This is purely a football decision that we have made to ensure Noah builds important match conditioning before returning to AFL level.”

The Tigers instead announced a debut for 19-year-old key forward Jonty Faull, who kicked 2.2 from nine disposals against Brisbane in the VFL last weekend.

Faull, who was taken with pick 14 last year, will be the fourth member of Richmond’s bumper draft class to make his AFL debut this season, joining No. 1 pick Sam Lalor, Luke Trainor (pick 21) and Harry Armstrong (pick 23).

Richmond’s VFL side will play the AFL Academy team at Moorabbin on Sunday.

Originally published as AFL news: Richmond coach Adem Yze on the decision not to recall Noah Balta