Player Watch #21: Noah Balta

[Cdog71]

Just thinking on this a bit more now, what happened with Tyson Stengle probably illustrates the point well.

He is a good little player who was developing very nicely in the VFL team. I have seen nothing to suggest that Richmond didn't want to keep him, nor that he was in any way unhappy at Tigerland. The Crows, after losing Cameron and seeing Eddie Betts coming near to the end of his career made Stengle some sort of decent offer, I presume around $250k a season for a couple of years, and he would also see the possibility of greater opportunities to play senior footy at the Crows, which allows him to put a better case for a bigger contract in the future.

So the Tigers trade him for pick 68 and seem to have effectively replaced him on the rookie list with Jake Aarts, on a minimum wage, saving maybe $100k cap space compared to matching the Crows offer. It seems to me Richmond would have wanted Stengle on the list rather than Aarts, but because we had effectively chosen Bolton over Stengle by signing Bolton to a one year contract, we lost Stengle. From all reports Stengle is playing really well in the Crows SANFL team, and there is every chance he will go on to have a decent AFL career. We traded pick 68 for the Cats' 2019 fourth rounder so we will likely get a similar pick in the 2019 draft.

A similar scenario could easily play out with CCJ, Balta, Miller, Balta, Naish, Bolton at the end of this year(unsure if any have re-signed or extended?).

But let's say the Suns are awash with cap space and decide Balta is the perfect complement to Witts in the ruck, and with time on their side and a developing list, decide to offer Balta $650k per year for four years. Balta goes to the Tigers and says I want $500k x four years to stay. The Tigers agree.

Say then Crows sensing Jacobs is nearly gonzo offer $400k x 3 years for CCJ. We just won't be able to keep them all. At some point we will need to lose players we would rather keep. But way better this than young players stagnating.

Maybe this needs it’s own thread mate.
It’s a good point you make but it’s all speculation and it can interupt people wanting to shoot the shit about Balta
who I think will stay

 

[THE_GUN]

Astbury would be a perfect player for the Suns to go after but i have a feeling the Doggies or Hawks are well known for going after KPD in the later part of their career's similar to Frawley/Lake.

Some teams have cap space and need players and we need to get draft picks for these players that are at the backend of their careers and replace them with younger players that we see fitting into our system.

I would go hard for a player like Sam Taylor from GWS

 

[tropicaltiger]

When i mention losing some players to free agency or trade i usually get people having a go at me due to their loyalty to said players but we will start shedding some players and we have 2 players that will be targeted this year as free agents.

Brandon Ellis - Most likely will get offers around the $500k-$650k range depending on which club needs him and how desperate they are
Suns , Crows , Blues , Saints , Doggies will all be looking. We should not match and accept a decent compo pick around #20-#30 imo

David Astbury - Again a free agent and will get good offers around the $600-$700k range for 3/4 years
being a premiership KPD player thats shown he can play on the big gorillas he will be sought after and again he is 29 and we have a decent replacement in Garth. David Astbury is a player we should cash in and take the pick similar to Ellis

Houli / Grigg - These 2 guys will also be gone by the end of 2020 and Grigg may get the tap on the shoulder this year, Again we now have their replacement ready or will be ready by the start of 2020

Butler / Castagna / Baker / Menadue /Markov are all also now no longer untouchable and could be let go if a good offer is made

Sorry but I find these posts distasteful. We have the best culture and harmony in the comp and on dec 31,2019 - Astbury is still 28, George 23, Brandon 26, Houli 31 and all playing fantastic footy at the moment with no decline in sight, Rance is out of action and yet you pump up an injury prone (so far) and very much unproven Garth as a reason we should be shedding/offloading to the highest bidder for Dave and others like its a second hand car sale on ebay...It was fantastic the way we looked after our capable types... yet no longer automatic best 22 in 2018 looking forward. Early days yet but Grigg, Jack Graham, Butts, Mrakov and Soldo might be in the same boat at years end... Who knows??, But the club will look after them and give them opportunities and options as they did with Conca, Lloyd, Miles, Cellis etc.

 

[tropicaltiger]

They all look good but holding onto them all may not be easy as we are already struggling with our salary cap and decent offers will come for these sort of players, especially the way they are playing. This might be the great value of the likes of the likes of Broad, Mcintosh, Butler, Castagna, they can play a role and do it well while presumably on minimal cash.

We will probably have to shift the likes of Houli, Grigg, Ellis, sooner rather than later in order to hold on to most of these good youngsters. But at some point I fear we will need to lose someone we would rather keep, unless we can get the Pies' accountant to share his secrets with us.

why ellis, hes 26, been in our best handful 2 weeks in a row and might just be in career best form, why let him go to save 100k maybe 200k. i reckon ellis will play 300 games for us

 

[Zoom]

Norf will come knocking

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Understandably in the excitement of recent weeks people are posting here to sign up Bolton, Stack, Balta, Baker, Ross etc. All these guys will have managers who would not be doing their jobs correctly if they advised their men to hastily sign deals at under the odds. The managers will know other clubs will be interested in these players. I would think we would need to create cap space in order to maximise our chances of not losing some of these great young players. The obvious way to do that is to hasten retirements or unload free agents of players you think you can replace.

This is why I mentioned Ellis, he is a) a free agent who is likely to be worth more to the highest bidder of the other 17 clubs than he is to us, and b) clearly not irreplaceable on his record since the start of 2018.

I am not one who just wants to get rid of every player with flaws, but reading between the lines I am pretty sure if Ellis stays it costs us one of the young guns. If you had to choose how to spend $350-400k, do you spend it on a year 3 Balta, a year 4 Bolton, a year 2 Stack, a year 3 Baker, or an exposed C/B Grade player like Ellis? These are the questions I am pretty sure the club will need to face.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Apologies for derailing the thread a bit but I think these questions legitimately arose on this Balta thread, and are relevant to him amongst others and may as well be dealt with here.

 

[Mr Magic]

Apologies for derailing the thread a bit but I think these questions legitimately arose on this Balta thread, and are relevant to him amongst others and may as well be dealt with here.

Not sure how these trade questions relate to Balta. Either way Balta is a keeper

 

[Phar Ace]

Not sure how these trade questions relate to Balta. Either way Balta is a keeper

Of course Balta is a keeper, don't you read? What's not to love about Balta right now if you are Tigers Fan. The dilemma was simply put that IF Boyd was seen to be worth an offer of $1M per year at some point of his longer term contract at the Bulldogs, then will another Club try and cherry pick Balta on a similarly absurd offering. I've para-phrased but that was essentially the recent discussion here, no matter how unpalatable it may seem.

I don't think the same scale will exist in 2019 because Balta has a way to go before you would say he's the equivalent of a No 1 Draft pick as Boyd was considered to be at the time.

These are the questions however that get thrown around occasionally in meetings between Clubs and the pariahs that are Player Managers. We can stick out fingers in our ears and yell "lalalalalala", but whilst we do that, there are strategies being put in place by Player Managers and their stock all the time.

 

[Bojangles17]

Was a mistakathon from both sides last night, we were just cleaner when it mattered. Balta just has that energy about him that says we need to find a spot for him. He seems to be a flexible type player so am sure the brains trust can find the right roles for him to fill even once Jack is back in the side.

Hmm I think our + 22 i50s gave us a overwhelming chance to W the game

 

[CaptchaProofBot]

Caro just said Balta was dropped in R2 for breaking team rules...

 

[Phar Ace]

Caro just said Balta was dropped in R2 for breaking team rules...

What was the team rule I wonder - don't slag Caro even when she's wrong?

 

[CaptchaProofBot]

What was the team rule I wonder - don't slag Caro even when she's wrong?

who's slagging ?

 

[T4P]

Caro just said Balta was dropped in R2 for breaking team rules...

Would not be surprised if it was because he burnt a teammate who was free in the goal square only to kick a point against the Blues.

Was the kind of un-Richmondlike play that you drop someone for.

 

[Phar Ace]

who's slagging ?

Just poking some fun mate - thought i made it obvious enough

 

[NaturalDisaster]

Would not be surprised if it was because he burnt a teammate who was free in the goal square only to kick a point against the Blues.

Was the kind of un-Richmondlike play that you drop someone for.

I would really hope we didn’t drop a player over that.

Would be taking us back to the days of over coaching and not allowing players to play on natural instinct

 

[parmy2balmey]

i remember the long kicking griffiths was coached into a safe team first 45m passer when he could have easily unloaded 3-4 times a game and pinched some easy goals, dusty too used to regularly bang em in from long distance seems a thing of the past

 

[NaturalDisaster]

i remember the long kicking griffiths was coached into a safe team first 45m passer when he could have easily unloaded 3-4 times a game and pinched some easy goals, dusty too used to regularly bang em in from long distance seems a thing of the past

I doubt it’s the reason.

 

[Zoom]

Caro just said Balta was dropped in R2 for breaking team rules...

Interesting

 

[tropicaltiger]

PLENTY OF ADORING EYES ON 'OUR BOY BALTA' IT SEEMS...

 

[THE_GUN]

She really wants to have his babies

 

[parmy2balmey]

I doubt it’s the reason.

i doubt it was the reason he got dropped as well, but don’t doubt itd be a team rule to kick it to the unmanned bloke in the goal square instead of having a ping

 

[DrMike]

I doubt it’s the reason.

It's not.

 

[Nobby]

She really wants to have his babies

Can't blame her lol

 

[Muddiemoose]

It's not.

Seems like you know something Dr?
Anything we should be concerned about long term or would make the club question offering him a new contract or he just go out on the piss or miss a training sesh? (Both aren’t the best looks but hardly worth stressing about over the long term)