Noah Balta - Welcome to Tigerland

[Leysy Days]

Yeah he was dominant. Scary how good he might be.

Kouta had his breakout when 22 y.o.

Anthony Koutoufides of the Carlton Blues Career AFL Stats

Anthony Koutoufides of Carlton Blues career AFL statistics

www.footywire.com

 

[Tigers of Old]

I rewatched the first quarter last night. Woah. He was like a 16-year-old playing under-14s. Dominant. I think he had 10 touches, kicked 2.1 (set shot ftom 58, ridiculous ground gather and left-footed pea-shelling) and gave one off, and went into the ruck to show how easy that is.

Goodes? Kouta? Were they as good as Noah Balta at 22?

Goodes & Kouta? Not sure a preseason game against the Hawks is the time to go there just yet spooker..
It was an encouraging performance sure but I want to see this experiment in a few snr games before we crown him the king.

 

[spook]

Goodes & Kouta? Not sure a preseason game against the Hawks is the time to go there just yet spooker..
It was an encouraging performance sure but I want to see this experiment in a few snr games before we crown him the king.

Booooo

 

[Tigers of Old]

Booooo

All jokes aside he's a confidence player & that performance certainly will have done him wonders. Fingers crossed..

 

[Harry]

Reckon he'll be a success up fwd. The thing with Balta up fwd is we don't lose much in the pressure fwd area of our game as he's pretty quick can chase and tackle.

 

[Tigerhealer]

Reckon he'll be a success up fwd. The thing with Balta up fwd is we don't lose much in the pressure fwd area of our game as he's pretty quick can chase and tackle.

reminds me of Richo except Balta kicks straighter

 

[craig]

reminds me of Richo except Balta kicks straighter

Richo was a better grab, The Richoman was one of the best contested marks of a footy ever.

 

[RoarEmotion]

Richo was a better grab, The Richoman was one of the best contested marks of a footy ever.

And best bird. He would have given away a lot of 50m for abusing his own teammates though when that rule comes in next year.

 

[Jason King]

Richo was a better grab, The Richoman was one of the best contested marks of a footy ever.

The best for mine. Anyone trying to catch pies with the way they were chucked at him and how many stuck... He is clearly the goat!

 

[TigerFlag2017]

He was playing Hawthorn.

 

[123cups]

Wow, I didn't know he could do that. Reminded me of Buddy in the first quarter.

Really liked how humble he looked after that beautiful left foot goal as well.

Great young leader in the making.

 

[tora]

Only contribution I would make to the Balta back or forward debate is that I liked the three goals kicked. Deep left foot snap and a set shot on the right from the boundary outside 50 are nice goals to get. He is big, tall, jumps well and is fast. If in addition, he can kick well for goal - that's a lot of what you need up forward. Maybe he can be taught some of the smarts (e.g. leading patterns), required to go with the A class talent - I get that he doesn't have the instinct and may never develop it.

I think gibcus being very advanced has freed balta to move out of the backline. 2 rucks and balta forward seemed to work. Although I only saw match highlights.
High half forward could be an option

 

[Tigers of Old]

Personally I'd be loathe to move Noah back to defence at this point, especially after promising signs up front vs Hawthorn. I'd hate to break that momentum. Understand the break glass in case of emergency thinking but Balta is no certainty to just slip back into that mode seamlessly after training forward all summer.

I also think 3 quality talls up forward can really stretch the Blues defensively.
Especially with crumbers in Bakes, Castagna, Edwards & Bolton in such good form.

Weitering will again go to Lynch & in the past has broken even on that battle so we can't rely on that as a win.
Balta up front though gives them much more to think about he probably gets McGovern.
Hopefully Jack can get off the chain with a lesser player like McDonald.

 

[Tigers of Old]

Very interesting from Caesar's report that Balta trained in defence today. Surely only an emergency move but maybe just want to get him to feel it again if we have an injury. A good thing is if he does go back into defence then one of Soldo or Nankervis will spend more resting time deep forward. Both can create a a strong aerial contest & are good for a goal or two (being beautiful kicks). We've got a big of flexibility there if required.

 

[Dont Argue]

Very interesting from Caesar's report that Balta trained in defence today. Surely only an emergency move but maybe just want to get him to feel it again if we have an injury. A good thing is if he does go back into defence then one of Soldo or Nankervis will spend more resting time deep forward. Both can create a a strong aerial contest & are good for a goal or two (being beautiful kicks). We've got a big of flexibility there if required.

With Vlastuin injured and Grimes sitting out the competitive stuff today, they probably ran out of tall defenders to match up on our tall forwards so perhaps just an “even up”

 

[MD Jazz]

The best for mine. Anyone trying to catch pies with the way they were chucked at him and how many stuck... He is clearly the goat!

Yeh, he had to be great because of the *smile* delivery. He's the best I've seen. And rarely double clutched them like lots do.

 

[Scoop]

If Carlton go big, Harry McKay, Charlie Curnow, TOm DeKoning, and Silvagni, I'd be shocked if Balta didn't go back at some stage.

We have Tarant, Gibcus, Broad, and Balta. No Grimes and Vlastuin force our hand. Unless we play Miller, Balta will go back.

 

[TT33]

If Carlton go big, Harry McKay, Charlie Curnow, TOm DeKoning, and Silvagni, I'd be shocked if Balta didn't go back at some stage.

We have Tarant, Gibcus, Broad, and Balta. No Grimes and Vlastuin force our hand. Unless we play Miller, Balta will go back.

Has Grimes been ruled out?

 

[caesar]

Has Grimes been ruled out?

No

 

[craig]

I'm tipping Noah starts forward and is then moved back especially so if Grimes doesn't play.

There is no harm moving Noah back in defence for one game especially one as important as the season opener.

He can go free against the Gee Whiz the following week who he will cause plenty of issues for and will force Haynes to be accountable.