It’s taken 37 years, but Neil Balme is finally back at Richmond, where he carved out such an impressive playing career in 159 games from 1970-79, including the Tigers’ back-to-back premierships of 1973-74, before departing and making a successful transition into, firstly, coaching (at SANFL club Norwood and AFL club Melbourne), and then football administration (with Collingwood and Geelong).
While Balme is renowned for being a pragmatic person, the romance associated with returning to his original league club, to take on the key role of General Manager – Football, has clearly struck a chord with him.
“You tend not to allow yourself to dream about these things, but it’s fantastic,” Balme told ‘Roar Vision’.
“Obviously, having played here for so long – a fair while ago now . . . when you play at a place, you’re really involved and you’re really very engaged with the place.
“So there’s a lot of Richmond in me, which I sort of had to push to the side a bit, when I was working at other places.
“But it’s great to be back. It does feel like a homecoming, there’s no doubt about that . . .
“It’s great that the Club has shown some faith in me that I can help us get to a position that we want to get to.
“I’m sure that’ll be the case.”
Balme believes the Tigers can bounce back strongly from their disappointing 2016 season, provided they stringently stick to a tried-and-true formula . . .
“I don’t think we’re that far away from getting that back on track, but it will take a really conscious effort from all the coaches and all of us – the staff and the people around the Club. But more so the players to say, okay, let’s get positive, let’s play our game, let’s believe in what we do . . .
“When you do that, the sky’s the limit, really.
“So that’s where we are.
“It’s really trying to make sure that we provide that environment where there’s a lot of belief, they work well together, and it’s all team-first . . .
“All those things we’ve heard a million times, but they’re the things that drive success in this game.”
