‘No place I’d rather be’: Balta’s brilliant interview after epic turnaround in Hawkins duelBen Cotton
Fox Sports
May 13th, 2023 Richmond defender Noah Balta has won over the Fox Footy panel with a brilliant post-match interview after his side’s upset victory over Geelong on Friday night.
It matched the premiership Tiger’s huge on-field performance on the night.
Balta was among Richmond’s best players, finishing with 17 disposals and six intercept marks and getting on top of Tom Hawkins after the Coleman medallist dominated him early, kicking two of his three goals in the first quarter.
Hawthorn legend Jordan Lewis noted on Fox Footy post-match Hawkins was “manhandling” Balta in the opening term before praising the Tigers backman for turning things to help drive his side’s rebound off half back.
“I just thought it was a real mature way in which he worked through the contest ... throughout the night Balta was fantastic,” Lewis said.
Asked what coach Damien Hardwick’s message was at quarter time while he was getting beaten by Hawkins, a relaxed Balta told Fox Footy from the rooms: “I can’t remember, to be honest!
“I’d tell you if it knew ... it kind of all went quick, I just stayed in the present moment.”
Balta, who started his career as a forward before moving into defence, conceded Hawkins is such a hard matchup and acknowledged it can take some time to adapt to playing on the 34-year old veteran.
“I think you just get a good read on him. You don’t want to overplay the front and you don’t want to overplay the back, because he’ll just get you either way,” he said of Hawkins.
“He’s a terrific player and all credit to him. Even growing up, I used to watch him when I was playing in the forward line. He’s an unbelievable player and he’s always had double threat.
“I just had to close down space and I tried to rely on my speed a bit more to close down that space and catch up.”
The 23-year old was also full of praise for fellow defender Nathan Broad for his “terrific” shutdown role on Jeremy Cameron, holding the star Cats forward to a season-low one goal.
After Balta revealed Broad was standing nearby but “can’t hear me,” Lewis said: “Pump him up.”
Balta then turned to Broad and said: “’Broady’, get here mate, they want to see ya,” as Broad walked through the shot and gave a thumbs up to the camera to leave Fox Footy pundits Lewis, Garry Lyon and Jonathan Brown cackling with laughter.
Balta continued: “He’s a terrific defender, it’s awesome having him back. He’s such a reliable defender and we respect how much he means to us at the club.
“He’s always does a little things that stand out from the crowd and nobody really notices. But he always does that get running that I couldn’t be bothered doing, but he does it for me.”
It comes in a year Broad is eligible for free agency, with Hardwick joking post-match: “He’s playing hard ball, I suppose. We won’t answer his manager’s call this week, he’ll be wanting too much money.”
Having played throughout his five-year career, Balta said he now feels settled in defence.
“I’m loving the backline,” he said.
“I’ve got ‘Grimesy’ (Dylan Grimes) and Broady. I’ve got a terrific team around me – (Liam) Baker’s awesome, even ‘Shorty’ (Jayden Short) when he sits back as well. Daniel Rioli is doing terrific down there, what a story he’s got.
“Those boys, I just love playing with them. At the moment, there’s no place I’d rather be.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/richmond-tigers/afl-2023-noah-balta-postmatch-interview-richmond-tigers-win-over-geelong-cats-battle-with-tom-hawkins-nathan-broad-jeremy-cameron-latest-news/news-story/2dd641e877575a9bd6997d2b4e240ca9
