The AFL and Richmond have been savaged over the situation surrounding premiership swingman Noah Balta.

The AFL will allow Balta to return to playing before being sentenced for assaulting a 27-year-old man outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club in the NSW Riverina area on December 30 last year.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Caroline Wilson takes aim at Noah Balta ban.

Vision of the assault was shown in court last week and Balta has already pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced on April 22 but his club ban of four home and away games ends before that date.

The sanction was ratified by the AFL who say the ban includes two pre-season games and therefore is a six-match ban.

But veteran journalists Caroline Wilson and Craig Hutchison have blasted the suspension on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.

Richmond coach Adem Yze said after the match on the weekend that six games was “a fair whack”, but Wilson said Balta can’t play in Gather Round in “front of a family friendly crowd at the Barossa Valley”.

“I’m so surprised that Richmond and the game’s head office was sticking to their guns today when they said that (Balta) would play with their blessing,” Wilson said.

“Frankly, I don’t believe it. (And) Balta was not suspended for six senior games. He was suspended for four after his attack, after his bashing of Thomas Washbrook at Mulwala on December 30.

“I’m sure Richmond nor the AFL had seen the vision of what happened before they handed down that suspension. Balta and his not so perfect history really shouldn’t play at least until after April 22 when he’s sentenced, although that takes us to Anzac Day Eve against Melbourne at the MCG and that stage, too, feels (too big) for a player who committed, in the words of police, a wild assault.”

“Even if he gets off on April 22 with a fine or a community service act, the game should have been far tougher on a player who committed such a violent act.

“And I don’t know why they keep saying six weeks. It was four senior games, and I am convinced ... they’ll say he has to do more training or that he won’t be ready. You can’t play him in the Barossa game.

“And I’m not sure you can play him at Easter, and I’m not sure you can play him on Anzac eve. So wait until after he’s been sentenced.”

Hutchison agreed, and said the punishment didn’t match the crime.

“I agree. There’s no way that the Richmond or the AFL had seen that vision when they signed off on that sanction, because those two things don’t line up,” Hutchison said.

“It’s OK to say how we didn’t know, we weren’t aware, and we’re gonna take him out of the field of play until the courts (make a decision) one way or the other.”

The suspension expires this weekend with Balta eligible to return in Richmond’s Round 5 game against Fremantle on April 13.

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And AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said the league was “comfortable” in allowing Balta to play before being sentenced.

“By the time Noah is eligible to play again he would have served a four week AFL suspension as well as missing a couple of weeks of practice matches,” Dillon told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday,

“Ultimately it will be a decision from Richmond, whether they select him straight into the AFL or into the VFL side.”

Dillon said the AFL wouldn’t step in again before Balta’s sentencing.

“We have worked with Richmond and we’re comfortable with the suspension and the suspension that Noah has served ... we’re comfortable with where Richmond landed on that one,” Dillon said.

Yze signalled after last Saturday’s game that Balta would be an automatic selection when available.

Balta, 25, pleaded guilty in the Corowa Local Court to assault occasioning actual bodily harm which in NSW carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

Prosecutors said the actions of the 2020 premiership player, which hospitalised the victim Thomas Washbrook with head injuries, met the threshold of a high-level offence.

Prosecutor Jason Tozer told the court on March 27 that Washbrook could have been killed.

“Your Honour can see he (the victim) becomes fully airborne and travels a metre or a metre-and-a-half,” Sergeant Tozer told the court.

“It is only sheer luck that his head did not make contact with that concrete.”

The court was shown CCTV footage which shows Balta run out of the club and shoulder-charge Washbrook, knocking him to the ground.

Court documents state Balta punched Washbrook’s head two to three times and assisted his brother by holding the man down.

Balta punched Washbrook twice more in the head before he was pulled away from the victim, who was bleeding from a three centimetre head wound.

Balta’s defence team admitted to the court the incident was serious, but argued the assault was at the higher end of a mid-level offence.

Balta’s lawyer Belinda Franjic told the court the offence was “completely and utterly out of character” for the AFL star.

Balta had admitted drinking significant amounts of alcohol on the day of the offending and reacted to seeing his younger brother in a confrontation, the court was told.

Balta had shown genuine remorse and sought professional help to address his behaviour, Franjic said.

Balta has reached a confidential settlement with Washbrook, who was forced to take time off work at the Wangaratta Council because of his injuries.

The settlement was reached after Balta was sued for pain and suffering as well as medical expenses.

- With AAP