‘What’s he thinking?’: Noah Balta’s ‘slack’ approach to Max King match-up exposedBen Waterworth and NCA NewsWire
Fox Sports
August 14th, 2023 Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna has been left flabbergasted by the space Noah Balta gifted six-goal star Max King in St Kilda’s big win over Richmond, suggesting the key defender “fell asleep at the wheel”.
An equal career-high six-goal bag from King on Sunday all but extinguished Richmond’s finals dream as the star forward propelled the Saints to a convincing 36-point win at Marvel Stadium.
King destroyed Balta, who was caught ball-watching and guarding space far too often in their one-on-one match-up.
“Saints fans would’ve been pumped today to see Max King, because we were concerned when he hurt the shoulder a second time his season was done. To come out and kick six goals – and to do it on an opponent in Noah Balta, who’s getting a lot of praise for his intercept marking ability,” Montagna told Fox Footy’s First Crack.
“Today, I’m not sure what happened to Noah Balta. He fell asleep at the wheel.”
Montagna pointed to three instances from Sunday’s game where Balta didn’t pay close enough attention to King, with all passages leading to a King mark inside 50.
After King kicked his sixth goal, first-year Tiger Tylar Young was moved onto him, but the Saints had essentially already sealed victory.
“He just gave him a leg rope that invited Max King to get his confidence up – and when that was the case, he was away,” Montagna said.
“Sometimes he (Balta) reminds me a little bit of Sam Frost at times because he does some great things, but other times you scratch your head and think: What’s he thinking? I know he’s an intercept mark player, but there’s a difference between being aggressive and just being slack.
“They waited until he (King) had kicked six goals to make the move. Tylar Young, who’s been praised as a lockdown defender, eventually went to Max King maybe late in the third quarter – and Max King didn’t touch it after that. But the damage was already done.”
Tigers interim coach Andrew McQualter acknowledged Balta’s job “first and foremost is to absolutely defend his player first”, but said the backman wasn’t helped by poor Richmond ball use up the field.
“All of the players that play in defence, that’s their first job, and then if you can intercept the ball, great,” McQualter told reporters.
“That’s not his intention. That’s not his instruction. And some of the turnovers tonight were pretty difficult for Noah to defend at times as well.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/richmond-tigers/afl-news-2023-noah-balta-match-up-on-max-king-exposed-stats-ross-lyon-press-conference-after-st-kilda-beat-richmond/news-story/d34af5249295dca5005b5f52513519c1
