The capacity to successfully switch the magnets of talented, young key-position players Noah Balta and Josh Gibcus on the coaches’ board has plenty of appeal for triple Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick.
It was a move that Hardwick made at three-quarter time in last Thursday night’s match against Port Adelaide at the MCG – Balta going back and Gibcus forward.
The reshuffle worked well with Balta shoring up the Tigers’ defence, while Gibcus kicked a crucial goal and had some important touches.
Gibcus had been successfully shifted from the backline to the forward line in Richmond’s previous match, against Sydney at the SCG, steering through an impressive, long set-shot goal after marking from a strong lead.
“With him (Balta) and Gibcus, it was always something that we are quite excited by – the fact that we could have both (in the team),” Hardwick said.
“Gibcus goes forward and kicks a pretty important goal and looked really damaging up there as well.
“I can’t honestly say where Balta will start (v Carlton on Thursday night) . . . He is going to play forward, he will play some ruck and he will also play back.
“’Lynchy’ is back next week, so we will have some selection dilemmas to go through.
“He’s just so important in those big strong contests when we need it.
“The pleasing thing for me is Noah didn’t have his best game but his last quarter, I thought, was very important when he went back.”
