Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan under fire for comments on Richmond’s Noah Balta saga

Noah Balta played his first game of 2025 on Saturday night — and his skipper welcomed the return with open arms. Plus, Damien Hardwick takes aim at the Victorian Premier.

Richmond captain Toby Nankervis says Noah Balta is ready to receive his punishment for his assault charge as he told Tigers fans the star defender had changed as a person since that summer incident.

Balta is set to be sentenced in an Albury court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident in Mulwala in December.

Former Richmond coach Damien Hardwick raised eyebrows when he hit out at Victorian premier Jacinta Allan on Saturday night in his press conference in the aftermath of the loss to the Tigers.

He said that Balta would cop his right whack, accusing Allan of putting her nose into “someone else’s business”.

Noah Balta enjoys the win. Picture: Getty Images

“She should just concentrate on getting the state running well. It’s an absolute mockery of her making comments in regard to that,” he said of Balta’s ability to play while awaiting sentencing.

It is not the first time Hardwick has hit out at a Victorian premier, being forced to clarify that his comments about Dan Andrews were tongue in cheek in 2022.

He had hit out at Andrews’ close contacts covid rules after Sydney Stack had to miss a VFL game, with the AFL having to distance itself from his statement.

Balta was exceptional keeping Ben King to only a goal, and if his case goes as expected on Tuesday he would take part in Thursday night’s Anzac Eve clash against Melbourne.

Nankervis told 3AW on Sunday Richmond fans should know that Balta had not got off lightly inside the club even if they were not in favour of his four-week AFL suspension.

“There has been a fair bit of commentary around it,” he said.

“We all know Noah has done the wrong thing and he will have to be accountable for his actions, which he will be. It was great to see him out there last night

“I am sure all of our fans would have loved to have seen him out there last night and having him down back was a massive presence.

“It was great for Noah as well. He has had to do a lot of work on himself and will continue to so it’s great to see him back out there. I think clearly Noah has done the wrong thing and he’s really owned that and is really accountable to his actions

“As a footy club early on it’s about making sure he’s aware of the significance of what he’s done and now it’s about wrapping our arms around him as much as we can.”

Richmond hung on despite Gold Coast kicking five goals in the final quarter of their Marvel Stadium contest, with Nankervis revealing a coaching bungle had seem him stranded on the bench for the first 10 minutes of the quarter.

Toby Nankervis led his side to a second victory of the season. Picture: Getty Images

“I don’t think I have ever been as wound up as I have been in the first 10 minutes of the last quarter,” he said.

“I looked at the board at three quarter time and I was on the bench and I think they got it wrong. Samson (Ryan) was supposed to start forward and I was meant to start in the ruck and it took some time to get on. The play was over the other side. I was supposed to get on in two minutes but I ended getting stuck for another eight minutes or more and I was going pretty wild for a bit, so I got back on and we held on.”

VICTORIAN PREMIER UNDER FIRE FOR MEDDLING IN BALTA SAGA

- Ronny Lerner

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has taken aim at Victorian premier Jacinta Allan over her comments regarding Richmond defender Noah Balta.

Balta, who played a crucial role in defeating his former coach’s side on Saturday night, was selected by Richmond to play despite pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident in Mulwala in December.

The defender will face sentencing at an Albury court on Tuesday and has drawn the attention of Ms Allan who described the incident as “sickening” and criticised the AFL and Richmond for allowing Balta to play.

Hardwick hit back at the premier in the aftermath of the loss to his former player’s side.

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

Damien Hardwick spoke out about the premier’s involvement. Picture: Getty

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

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 pleaded 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.”

Noah Balta is facing sentencing on Tuesday over his assault case. Picture: Getty

Balta’s current coach Adem Yze said he was rapt with the defender’s first-up performance for the year and would have to “look after” his player ahead of a sentencing decision.

“He’ll go through that process next week,” Yze said.

“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.

“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.”

Noah Balta did a job on Gold Coast Suns star Ben King. Picture: Michael Klein

On the field, Balta kept gun Gold Coast forward Ben King to one goal, drawing praise from both coaches.

“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.”