Noah Balta’s no Rance but he can halt Hawkins
Noah Balta has been hailed as Richmond’s next big thing as the 20-year-old prepares to lockdown on Coleman Medallist Tom Hawkins in Saturday night’s AFL grand final.
Perfect specimen Noah Balta has been hailed as Richmond’s next big thing as the 20-year-old prepares to lockdown on Coleman Medallist Tom Hawkins in Saturday night’s AFL grand final.
The boom fullback is the only Tiger in coach Damien Hardwick’s best 22 still looking for his first premiership medal after a breakout season stopping the AFL’s best power forwards.
Balta celebrates his 21st birthday on Friday but is set to be the youngest player at the Gabba, giving away 247 games and almost 12 years to Hawkins.
Hardwick described Balta as a “young Alex Rance” earlier this year and defender David Astbury has been stunned at the St Alban’s boy’s rapid improvement this season.
But Astbury warned he wasn’t the reincarnation of five-time All-Australian Rance, with the Tigers tweaking their defensive system since Rance’s 200th and final game.
“I understand why there’s this perception that Noah’s the new Alex Rance, because he’s the bloke who fills the void alongside Grimesy (Dylan Grimes) and myself,” Astbury told The Australian.
“But the game just evolves so quickly and we don’t play exactly as we did when we had Rancey.
“You can’t just get a 20-year-old like Noah to come in with the expectation that he does the job of Alex Rance.
“But they’re both physically remarkable and just do things that people like myself just will never be able to do. When they get set in a certain mindset they’re impossible to stop.”
Balta kept Hawkins to one goal without the aid of Astbury in Round 17 and has also beaten Charlie Dixon and Jeremy Cameron in 2020.
Balta has stacked on 5kg since he was drafted at pick 25 in 2017. At 100kg he is now a shredded athlete bursting with power.
“You draft this raw, athletic beast and it takes years and years to refine someone like that to get to where you think they can get to,” Astbury said.
“He’s only just scratching the surface on what his potential is. Physically, we don’t see specimens like that — they don’t come around built like that too often.
“I’m really grateful to have some time up here to connect with him on a more personal level, and it helps create a relationship that’s more conducive to teaching, and he just wants to soak up as much information as he can, and he wants to improve as quickly as he can.
“He asks a lot of questions and, in terms of what he could produce for this football club for a long time, it’s very exciting.
“I think he’s going to be a very, very good player for a long time.”
Astbury explained that he and Grimes had shared Rance’s load over the past 18 months.
“When we played with Rancey it was my responsibility to take the biggest tall,” Astbury said.
“He would play the deepest and Rancey, once in a generation defender, he could play on anybody.
“At the moment we’re keeping Noah’s role as simple as we can so he can learn, and elements of myself and Grimesy are probably doing what Rancey did for a long time.”
Jack Riewoldt attributed Balta’s emergence to his mental maturity and willingness to learn this year, while Astbury said the opportunity to improve around the clock living in the hub would prove to be “enormous”.
Herald Sun
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