AFL Easter Saturday LIVE: Tiger cubs on verge of a famous victory, but Riewoldt says ‘there’s no way’ Balta should be playing

Richmond great Jack Riewoldt says the Tigers should not have played Noah Balta in tonight’s clash against Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium.

Riewoldt believes the club should have waited until his 2020 premiership teammate Balta had been sentenced for his assault charge in a NSW court this Tuesday before bringing him back into the senior side.

Balta was banned by the Tigers from playing the opening four rounds of the season after pleading guilty to punching a man repeatedly in the head outside Mulwala Water Ski Club on the NSW-Victorian border just after midnight on December 30. He is now awaiting sentencing.

Triple premiership forward Riewoldt told Fox Footy that Balta’s selection for the Suns clash had not sat well with him.

“I don’t think the club has handled this very well at all,” he said.

“It is as much on Noah as it is on the football club to help make the right decision.

“And I think the public sniff test is that there’s no way he should be playing tonight.”

Riewoldt questioned why Richmond did not sit Balta out of the senior side for another week.

“I don’t think there’s anything to be gained from him playing tonight,” he said.

“I worry that something could potentially blow up, like he could potentially be targeted on-field tonight. ”

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When asked if the opposition would have words with Balta, Riewoldt said yes.

“You would think so,” he said. “There’s always verbal with these sorts of things.

“I just don’t think the club have put him in a very good position.”

Coach Adem Yze said during the week that Balta had “served his suspension”.

“We went really hard in doing so, and he’s been dealing with that for three months,” Yze said of Balta.

“We suspended him for four [home-and-away games] and now he’s had five weeks out – we’ve got to make sure we’re looking after the player as well.

“As I have said all along, that’s been a discussion we had with the AFL at the start of this process.

“He’s been working on himself, and he can’t wait to try and earn the respect back of not only us as a club and his teammates, but our supporters and the AFL community.”

The Tigers have won just one game for the year, defeating Carlton in round one.