Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has issued a scathing attack on the Richmond Football Club and the AFL after they admitted they were ‘comfortable’ with Noah Balta being made available for selection this weekend.
The 25-year-old footy star pleaded guilty to one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after he allegedly attacked a 27-year-old man outside the Mulawala Water Ski Club in December 2024.
He is now due to be sentenced on April 22 and could face jail time. The maximum penalty for the offence carries a sanction of five years in jail.
Despite AFL CEO Andrew Dillon giving the green light for Balta to return this weekend, the Tigers have not included him in their squad to take on Fremantle on Sunday. Tom Morris of Channel 9 reports that the club made this call due to his lack of fitness and game time this season.
Allan, though, described Balta’s attack on Thomas Washbrook as ‘sickening’, before criticising the AFL and Richmond for stating that they would allowed to return to play before his sentencing.
‘Having looked at the footage … what a sickening attack that was,’ Allan said on Thursday, prior to the Tigers’ squad announcement.
Jacinta Allan (pictured) has blasted the AFL and Richmond’s stance on allowing Noah Balta to return to play prior to his sentencing on April 22
While Balta (pictured), who has pleaded guilty to an alleged charge of assault, has not been included in Richmond’s squad to face Fremantle but the AFL said they had been comfortable with him returning to play prior to his sentencing on April 22
‘Like many Victorians … I’ll be sitting down with the kids, they’ll be watching Hawthorn, I’ll be looking at Essendon’s results. Either way, when we sit down (and watch the footy), how do we explain to kids, particularly, how do we answer that question?
‘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?
‘I think that’s really a question that the AFL and Richmond need to answer.
‘Let’s remember the victim here who would no doubt be deeply traumatised by this experience.’
Others from the AFL community have raised questions over the decision to allow Balta to return ahead of his sentencing, including Caroline Wilson, Craig Hutchison and Jimmy Bartel.
Balta had accepted a four-match ban from Richmond and the AFL for the alleged incident, a suspension which has now expired.
The 25-year-old premiership winner is alleged to have punched victim Thomas Washbrook multiple times in the head.
The Corowa Local Court was also shown CCTV footage of the alleged aggression that appears to show Balta shoving Washbrook to the floor.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon (pictured) said the league would not stop Balta from returning to play having served out his four-match ban
Richmond boss Adem Yze (pictured) has also stated this week that it is ‘going to be nice’ when Balta is available
Prosecutors told the court that: ‘It is only sheer luck that his [Washbrook’s] head did not make contact with the concrete.’
His defence told the court that the alleged act was ‘completely and utterly out of character’ for the Richmond player.
Following the expiration of his suspension from football, Dillon said the league would not stand in the way of his return to the pitch.
‘We have worked with Richmond and we’re comfortable with the suspension and the suspension that Noah has served… we’re comfortable with where Richmond landed on that one.’
He added: ‘By the time Noah is eligible to play again he would have served a four-week AFL suspension as well as missing a couple of weeks of practice matches.
‘Ultimately it will be a decision from Richmond, whether they select him straight into the AFL or into the VFL side.’
Richmond coach Adem Yze had previously said the club had planned for Balta to return for the game against Fremantle. Yze declared this week that ‘it is going to be nie when he’s [Balta] is available.’
It also comes as the AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) claimed that Balta ‘had a right to play’ after serving his ban, despite not being sentenced.
The 25-year-old premiership winner is alleged to have punched victim Thomas Washbrook multiple times in the head
‘There’s been a disciplinary process there. Noah has served that out. And so he has a right to play this week. I don’t know whether he will,’ AFLPA CEO Marsh said earlier this week.
‘At the moment, our thoughts are with Noah in a sort of broader sense, I think he’s got some problems, sorts of challenges ahead of him and that is the bigger issue.
‘But if playing fully, and I think playing footy can be a nice distraction, being in a club where they’re actually working with him day-to-day is also really positive … I think that the club will make the right decision.
‘He’s gone through a process where he’s been suspended, so I think it’s appropriate that that’s the suspension.
‘He’s got a criminal process that he’s going through, and there’ll be a determination made at the end of that. But there has been a football process, and that’s the result of it.’
Despite that, ex-Geelong star Bartel claimed the comments by the AFL ‘did not sit well with me’.
‘That sort of behaviour, we’re trying to eradicate from society. Let’s not even talk about football.’
Bartel added that the footy star should not play until he has been sentenced having already pleaded guilty to the charge.
Matt Cronin’s son, Patrick (left), tragically died after the 19-year-old was punched in the head during a brawl in a pub nine years ago. Andrew William Lee was subsequently jailed for manslaughter over the incident
Channel 9 pundit Jimmy Bartel has expressed his reservations over the club’s decision to bring Balta back for this weekend’s Gather Round match against Fremantle
‘Once you forgo your right — and yes, he pleaded guilty — that’s when Richmond should have stepped in and said: “OK, you plead guilty. We’ll still give you all the support but you’re not playing football until we work out what your actual sentence is, or what the court hands out”,’ he said.
‘If he was contesting the charge — [he’s] innocent until proven guilty — but he declared he was guilty.
‘I don’t buy into the tone of “poor Noah”.’
The father of coward-punch victim Patrick Cronin, who tragically died in 2016, also blasted the AFL’s comments.
Matt Cronin, a Richmond member, told 3AW that he believes Balta should never play again.
‘They’ve ticked it off, there’s no doubt about it,’ he said.
‘I think they’ve made their decision, sadly.
‘The AFL has a terrific opportunity to set a benchmark.’
‘I’m really disappointed as a Richmond supporter,’ Cronin added.
‘I hope he never comes back. That’s my opinion of him.
‘He has brought Richmond into disrepute.’
