James Hird and Geelong coach Chris Scott give their advice for Richmond defender Noah Balta

Richmond coach Adem Yze has confirmed Noah Balta will be available for selection this week, believing he has been punished enough.

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.

READ MORE: ‘Simply not true’: Galvin breaks silence on Tigers exit

READ MORE: Green’s return looms as fellow Aussies stake claims

READ MORE: Milking fears revealed after verdict on Suaalii shot

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Yze confirmed that the defender was in the selection mix to face Gold Coast.

“He’s available to play this weekend. He got through what he needed to get through (in the VFL). He’ll get through training today and then as a match committee we’ll go through that later today,” Yze said.

“I understand there’s opinions, but right now he’s served his suspension. We went really hard doing so and he’s been dealing with that for three months. We’ve just got to make sure we’re looking after the player as well.

“As I said all along, that’s been a discussion we had with the AFL at the start of the process, he’s been working on himself and he can’t wait to earn the respect back of supporters and the AFL community.

“He pleaded guilty by the fact that he told us what happened and that’s why we went really hard. We’ve got young players out our club and on our list that need to understand that what he did was wrong, and that’s why we went really hard.”

Former Essendon coach James Hird has a simple piece of advice for Richmond defender Balta: “stay away”.

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.”

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe/follow via Apple, Spotify or Google Podcasts

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.”