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Noah Balta - Welcome to Tigerland
- Thread starter RICHO_12
- Start date
I think this is the reason Young seems to get the bigger player
Is tiring I think as the amount of ball going in and the pressure one on one is mounting on him.
Not getting much help.
Best of our defenders and the only other player that can hold his own and is a clearly hampered , is Rioli.
I have him as our CHF with the odd cameo on ball. Strict instructions no short passes!
I refer you to the last time we tried turning Balta into a forward. Didn’t work.
Kicking a couple of goals against a team that hasn’t won since round 2 is not a reason to doubt what has already been tried and tested.
He’s a bloody good defender, who has had a challenging few weeks with the rapid decline of Grimes and Young tapering off at the end of a big year of development. Fix the structure around him, and he’ll be fine.
Kicking a couple of goals against a team that hasn’t won since round 2 is not a reason to doubt what has already been tried and tested.
He’s a bloody good defender, who has had a challenging few weeks with the rapid decline of Grimes and Young tapering off at the end of a big year of development. Fix the structure around him, and he’ll be fine.
He applied great forward pressure which we’ve lacked since Lynch went down
The bloke is an enigma. Flashes of brilliance and flashes of disaster when his brain disengages. Not sure if he doesn't listen or panics at times or even if he is thinking. Mind you he is in good company with our once vaunted defence
I dispute the narrative that playing him forward in 2022 didn't work.
When we tried it he was okay. Not great, but not terrible. Not as good as he has been back, but showed some potential.
We didn't give up on the experiment because he wasn't contributing. We moved him back because we had Jack and Lynch firing, and our whole backline fell apart. The move happened in part because he wasn't setting the world on fire, but mostly because he was needed in the backline.
He's stronger now. More developed. A better mark, and won't lose a one on one contest to a defender.
Tylar Young has changed his story.
We suddenly have defensive options. Gibcus, Miller, Biggie hanging out in the reserves.
It was only North, but we looked like a different side with a forward target who could halve, and win, an aerial contest. It's not just the contest itself. It's the option to kick to him. Which opens up other options.
We have a challenge next year to populate our forward line.
Lynch may never play again. Foot fractures can be career enders. Riewoldt gone. Pickett, Cotchin have played forward this year and won't in 2024. Bolton is a Mid. Dusty may move on, and is also a mid.
So who is there? Bauer. Still an AFL unknown. Ryan? He's a ruckman. Cumberland will hopefully develop into a third tall/crumbing forward. Gibcus? To me, seems less likely than Balta as a forward, but I could see it.
Regardless, that combination is not going to win us any games.
Balta gives us something. It's a gamble, but with significant possible upside. He may not do anything traditionally. But if he can take 5-8 marks within 60 metres of goal (not unlikely given his intercepting this year) and be coached to just have long shots, it's possible he becomes a 3+ goal a game forward (which is elite) AND straightens us up AND takes focus off Bauer and Cumberland.
He can mark. He can kick. He can contest in the air. He could be turned into a forward with serious upside.
Balta could be a generational backman in a side that can't score.
Or he could be something else entirely.
