Former Essendon coach James Hird has a simple piece of advice for Richmond defender Noah Balta: "stay away".
Balta faces sentencing in April over the assault of a man in December, for which he has already pleaded guilty.
Richmond initially suspended him six weeks for the incident, however that has left a fortnight period where he has become available for AFL selection ahead of his sentencing.
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The Tigers opted to play him in the VFL during Gather Round, with Balta followed to and from the game by a media swarm.
Hird, who knows a thing or two about media swarms from the Essendon supplement saga days, believes the best thing Balta can do is to take himself out of the limelight until after the sentencing.
"Can I say, having been followed around for a year like that by cameras, he is better off not to play. Go away, come back. Just stay away. It's better for him as a person, in fact," Hird told Nine's Footy Classified.
"I know you'd want to go out and play and prove people wrong, but being followed around like you're a criminal for a certain amount of time is not much fun. Not fun at all."
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Geelong coach Chris Scott spoke more broadly about how AFL players are punished for misdemeanours.
"The way (we at Geelong) would think about this, and this is where precedent is hard, because every situation is unique," Scott said.
"The one counter that I would put forward is that he's already been suspended and served his time. I understand that he is yet to be sentenced by the law of the land.
"We seem to take this view that AFL players get punished once, then they get punished twice and then they never really get to make amends for it."
Richmond has remained adamant that Balta would be available for selection this weekend against Gold Coast.
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