Karl Langdon: Tiger Neil Balme a Fremantle Dockers remedyFREMANTLE’S No.1 recruit this off season should be a dual premiership ruckman.
He’s contracted to Richmond, 194cm tall and 66 years of age, but his pedigree and track record is outstanding.
Neil Balme has been described as the “messiah” and it’s an apt given description given he was football manager at Geelong when the Cats broke a 44-year premiership drought, and held the same position at Richmond last year when the Tigers stormed to their first flag since 1980.
Whatever he has touched has turned to gold and he should be the Dockers’ chief target to replace their football operations boss Chris Bond, who resigned this week.
The former Mt Pleasant junior and four-game Subiaco player has family in Perth. He claims he does not have much time left in the game. I urge Freo to invest in Balme’s experience before it’s too late.
The former Melbourne coach arrived at Tigerland at the end of 2016, after Richmond had finished the season in 13th with an 8-14 record, punctuated by an 113-point defeat in round 23. Sound familiar, Freo fans?
“There is calmness and experience when he speaks,” Richmond president Peggy O’Neal said of Balme in 2017.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/fremantle-dockers/karl-langdon-tiger-neil-balme-a-fremantle-dockers-remedy-ng-b88954493z
