Here's the article where he says he doesn't watch footy.
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noah-balta-among-this-years-most-versatile-players-after-training-with-john-barnesOctober 26, 2017
Riley Beveridge
FOX SPORTSNOAH Balta is fortunate for his uncle’s connections.
On the eve of the 2015 season, the Calder Cannons youngster, then just 16 years of age, was in need of some footy guidance.
And his uncle had the man — his mate, John Barnes.
The Essendon premiership player took his calls, gave him invaluable advice and taught him the craft of being a big-bodied player thrust into a range of roles on the footy field.
He provided Balta with the biggest influence on his footy journey so far. And he helped the talented teenager announce himself with a breakout campaign in his draft year.
“He came and had a kick with me one time at the park,” Balta tells foxfooty.com.au.
“If I give him a buzz, he’s always there for me. He talks to me when I need a chat, he has a kick when I need a kick. He works on my skills and helps me slowly improve them day by day.”
Stats courtesy of Champion Data.Source: FOX SPORTSBarnes knew a thing or two about being an undersized ruckman. At just 193cm, he spent the majority of his 202-game career at Essendon and Geelong competing with giants.
Balta, a key forward throughout his junior career, was keen to follow in his footsteps.
Having been trialled down back with both the Cannons and with Vic Metro, Balta wanted to add more strings to his bow. It was in the air where he would next try his hand.
A role mixing a key-position spot at either end of the field with periods pinch-hitting in the ruck was designed for Balta. And he flourished.
The 194cm teenager ended the TAC Cup season averaging 15 disposals and 11 hit-outs per match, complementing multiple goals in four of his last eight games.
“Barnesy helps me with my ruck work as well,” Balta says.
“We just did a bit of ruck work together. Plus my cousin, who is my age, is 210cm. He’s going to Hawaii for basketball. We’d all do a bit of ruck work with Barnesy.
“He told me as a smaller ruck, I should be able to beat all of these talls. I just got used to it.”
Balta prefers playing in the forward line.
As a genuine key forward, he’s able to use his speed to gain space on his opponent on the lead and his size to become a strong marking threat in the air.
That led to 18 goals from just eight games in his bottom-age season with the Cannons.
However, throughout his draft year, he’s been pushed more and more into a defensive role.
He was among the most promising key defenders during the national championships, narrowly missing out on All-Australian selection having played in a variety of lockdown roles.
Promisingly, he also put his speed into effect from half back, quickly closing down opponents and then bursting forward with an improving ability to move the ball in transition.
Such versatility resulted in Balta being the only player in the TAC Cup to rank in the top 70 in key indicators for all three positions — intercept marks, hit-outs and goals — according to Champion Data.
A TAC Cup clash against the Bushrangers in July, his best performance of the year, yielded 31 disposals, 17 contested possessions, 14 score involvements and seven marks in a role combining defensive and ruck work.
It was confirmation he could make the switch to whatever position he was needed in.
“I feel I can adjust to being a defender,” Balta says.
“But because I’ve played forward my whole life, it comes a bit more naturally to me.”
Balta spent most of the national championships in defence.Source: Getty ImagesJust don’t ask young Balta to spend his spare afternoons watching footy.
Perhaps a bigger fan of the round ball code as he is to the oval shaped variety, Balta isn’t the self-confessed footy nut many within this draft crop express themselves to be.
“It’s not that I don’t enjoy footy, I can watch it, I just prefer not to,” Balta says.
“If I have to do reviews of my own game, I can watch that stuff. I just prefer doing other things.”
But that hasn’t turned recruiters off.
Once looked at as an early second-round prospect, Balta is bolting up the order. Some even believe he could even push the top-10 come November’s national draft.
“It would mean the world,” Balta says.
“It would be a dream come true. I’d be speechless. You can’t describe what it would be like.
“Just the other day, I was signing 300 cards of myself. I thought ‘gee, it’s actually becoming a reality’. Things like that gives you confidence.”
NOAH BALTA
Clubs: Calder/Vic Metro
Position: Key Forward/Key Defender
Size: 194cm, 92kg
Draft Range: 15-25
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-draft-2017-noah-balta-among-this-years-most-versatile-players-after-training-with-john-barnes/news-story/8244b8ce15de9ae592644596bf98e777
