‘Absolute mockery’: AFL coach torches state Premier

Damien Hardwick has taken an unprompted swipe at Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, accusing her of putting her nose where it shouldn’t be.

Damien Hardwick has taken an unprompted swipe at Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, accusing her of putting her nose where it shouldn’t be.

The Gold Coast coach had a hard night at the office as the Suns crashed to an 11-point loss to the Tigers at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night and Allan may have been the perfect outlet for the premiership-winning coach to vent his frustration.

Richmond’s win was a significant upset — according to bookmakers odds — and the margin was 43 points at three quarter time.

FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.

With emotions stilling running hot after the game, Hardwick did not hold back when asked about the return of Richmond’s Noah Balta — blasting the Labor state leader’s commentators about the footballer this week.

Allan had made public comments in condemning the AFL’s decision to let Balta return to the field with a court case yet to be completed.

Richmond coach Adem Yze said on Saturday night the club will “look after” the defender as he prepares for sentencing in the Corowa Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

You can watch Hardwick’s swipe in the video player above.

Damien Hardwick faces the press at Marvel Stadium. Photo: Fox Footy.

The incident in question occurred in December in the rural New South Wales town of Mulwala and Balta is facing potential jail time, with the maximum penalty five years imprisonment for such an assault.

After serving a club-imposed four-game suspension, and playing a reserves match last week, Balta returned to the senior line-up for the first time on Saturday night, and played a starring role by keeping red-hot forward Ben King to one goal.

Hardwick didn’t divulge whether he or his club had an issue with Balta playing, but he did take aim at Allan, who stated she didn’t believe Balta should have played again until he was sentenced.

“We’ve got a premier who put her nose in someone else’s business,” Hardwick said.

“She should just concentrate on getting the state running well. Absolute mockery her making comments with regard to that.”

Noah Balta and Adem Yze, Senior Coach of the Tigers. Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

In his time at Richmond, Hardwick coached Balta for six seasons and said he “of course” reached out to the premiership backman following the incident, and said Balta was receptive to his words.

“He’s pled guilty, he understands that. He’s going to cop his fair whack,” Hardwick said.

“Speaking to him, disappointed in his actions, support the individual, he’ll get better as a result of it.”

Balta was booed when he ran onto the field.

Yze said he was pleased with how Balta has handled the pressure.

“He’s handled it by training hard. He’s put his head down, bum up for the last three months and it’s a credit to him,” he said.

“We’ll support him through it, there’ll be a bit of anxiety around it and we’ll obviously need to look after him this week because there’s a bit to that.

“But as we’ve done as a footy club all along, we work with the AFL, we’ll go through the process on Tuesday and just support him as best as we can.”

Yze said teammates were “proud” of Balta’s behaviour and performance.

“Ben King is in pretty good form, and for him (Balta) to keep him (King) to a goal is not only highlighting the talent of Noah but it highlights the effort and the training that he’s done over the last three months,” Yze said.

“He has done a mountain of work, extras, supporting our younger players not only to get himself right to play but he’s been trying to win back the respect of his footy club.

“He knows he let the club down, he knows he did something wrong, but he’s been dealing with that every day and for our boys to support him today and not only to support him but his performance today was outstanding so it’s a credit to him. We’re really proud of him.”

Hardwick also hailed Balta’s performance.

“He was good, he was strong, he’s an experienced player, he’s a premiership player, people sort of forget how good he is,” Hardwick said.

“He had a pretty dynamic, good game.”

Originally published as ‘Absolute mockery’: AFL coach torches state Premier