Noah’s arc on way up

ALEX Rance is gone but Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is seeing more and more of the Tigers’ modern-day great in young cub Noah Balta.

Earmarked as a replacement for the five-time All-Australian when Rance retired, Balta is starting to show why Richmond rates him so highly.

The 20-year-old finished with 15 touches, four marks and three tackles in a Richmond defence missing David Astbury and Nick Vlaustin, and kept Bulldog Josh Bruce to just the two goals in the Tigers’ win at Metricon Stadium on Wednesday night.

Hardwick said Balta could be anything he wanted to be in the AFL.

“He has been very good throughout the year. He probably had one down game but we think for us to be a really good side he has to play. He will just grow into the role,” Hardwick said.

“I’m loath to say it but he does remind me of young Alex Rance and I look at the way he plays the game and he does some things that only he can do. And then he will make some mistakes that only him and Alex can do but he is a prodigious talent and we are really excited about him.

“He has a lot of work to do but we think he is starting to progress nicely.”

Following in Rance’s big shoes is a daunting prospect, but Hardwick backed Balta to do it — as long as he continued to work hard.

“Yeah (it is daunting) but Noah has the capacity to do that if he knuckles down and works on his craft. He is a guy who didn’t really grow up with a lot of footy so he is learning,” Hardwick said. “It is up to Noah as to how far he wants to go. He has the talent and the athletic traits to do it.

“We will provide him with the environment that can hopefully get the very best out of him and then Noah will make the call.”

Hardwick also said he thought Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch showed promising form, despite only managing three goals between them.

“I thought he (Riewoldt) was back, he just didn’t get the looks that he needed at times,” he said. “But he and Tom stood up for us which was great.”

Hardwick said captain Trent Cotchin got through the match unscathed and would be assessed to see how much of the footy frenzy he will play.

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said there was “no significant chemistry” in his side after the ugly loss.

“We have been winning games (but) I don’t think we have been playing that well,” he said. “We’ve strung some wins together but our first half was a bit of a disaster.

“It was a sub-par performance from us, even though I don’t think we have been playing too well. But in this series of games we just have to … move on pretty quickly.

“I think it will be seasondefining for everyone. If you don’t get some runs on the board with some wins in this part as we move into the backend, you will be back in the mire very quickly.”