The AFL will allow Richmond’s Noah Balta to return to playing before being sentenced for assaulting a man outside a NSW Riverina club.
Balta has pleaded guilty to assault and will be sentenced on April 22 for his attack on a 27-year-old man outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club.
Balta has been suspended for four premiership season matches by his club in a sanction ratified by the AFL after the incident on December 30 last year.
The suspension expires this weekend, with Balta eligible to return in Richmond’s round-five game against Fremantle on April 13.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said the league was “comfortable” in allowing Balta to play before being sentenced in court.
“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,” Dillon told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday,
“Ultimately, it will be a decision from Richmond, whether they select him straight into the AFL or into the VFL side.”
Dillon said the AFL wouldn’t step in again before Balta’s sentencing.
“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,” Dillon said.
Richmond Tigers footballer Noah Balta pleaded guilty to assault and will be sentenced on April 22. (ABC News)
Richmond coach Adem Yze signalled after last Saturday’s game that Balta would be an automatic selection when available.
“Oh, no doubt. We’ve handed down that suspension, we feel like that’s the right amount of time, six games is a fair whack,” Yze said.
Balta, 25, pleaded guilty in the Corowa Local Court to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which in NSW carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
Prosecutors said the actions of the 2020 premiership player, who hospitalised the victim Thomas Washbrook with head injuries, met the threshold of a high-level offence.
AAP
