Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch has praised the efforts of three young players after Saturday’s intraclub hit out.
While other teams are splitting off for pre-season matches against one another, the Tigers have kept things in-house.
Everyone from Dustin Martin to Trent Cotchin to Daniel Rioli took the field for Richmond, but second-year forward Noah Balta caught the eye of Lepptisch.
“He does some great things… he’s a big strong boy around the contest,” Leppitsh told the Richmondfc.com.au.
“He’s only a second-year player but he looks like a 10-year player and he’s still learning the game.”
He was also impressed with a pair of draftees in Jack Ross and Riley Collier-Dawkins, saying they’re adapting well to AFL standard footy.
“It’s just getting used to the pace of the game for young players, and playing an AFL system, they’re two completely different styles of game, what you do at junior footy to what you do at the men’s game,” he said.
“I thought all in all, their efforts were terrific and their ball winning abilities were terrific.”
The Tigers will take on Melbourne in Shepparton in their first JLT Series game on March 3rd.