AFL 2025: Richmond coach Adem Yze addresses Noah Balta’s availability to play GWS

Richmond coach Adem Yze has spoken on how he will navigate the availability of premiership defender Noah Balta for two games in Sydney this weekend.

Richmond coach Adem Yze says it would be “getting a bit cute” by playing defender Noah Balta on limited minutes to return in time for his mandated curfew.

So instead the key defender will play in the VFL curtain-raiser in Sydney in order to be home in time to meet the 10pm deadline imposed as part of his sentence for assault.

The Tigers, who tackle GWS in Sydney at 4.15pm on Saturday, will drop Balta to the VFL to take on the Giants at 12:30pm, to ensure he doesn’t miss any football.

Yze said Richmond don’t want the possibility of being a player short on the bench or to disrespect the sanction by substituting Balta out at halftime just to make a flight home.

“We’d be getting a bit cute if we did that and subbed him out because there could be risk that someone else gets injured and then we’re putting others at risk,” he said.

“We looked at the option of playing him in the seniors and getting him back on time, but it was just going to be too risky.

“We don’t want to go and mess with that. We understand what he’s going through (and) it’s just around performance and if we can get a game into him, we’ll do that.

Noah Balta will play for Richmond’s VFL side this week. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

“It was the only game we considered these things, it wasn’t to disrespect what he’s going through, it was just around performance and whether we could keep the momentum of him playing.

“Jake Batchelor, our VFL coach, is pretty happy he’s going to be available for the pre-game.”

Balta has already missed one match as a result of his curfew, sitting out the Anzac Eve clash with Melbourne.

While this week is likely to be Balta’s final game impacted by curfew this year, Yze says the defender “needs to play” for his performance and wellbeing.

“If he’s going in and out it’s obviously hard with performance and the stress of going in and out and what it does to your body,” he said.

“But his wellbeing is really important as well, to go in and out of AFL footy is really tough, you see that with injuries.

“As long as we can get him back on time, he’s going to go play VFL. It’s an earlier game and he’ll come back on his own flight.

“He’ll travel (there) with the team, go help our younger defenders in the VFL and get another game into him.

“It’ll give him a better chance at performing the following week. We looked at that and we’ll do that.”

Originally published as AFL 2025: Richmond coach Adem Yze addresses Noah Balta’s availability to play GWS