BALME - 2020 NEALE DANIHER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER

Tuesday, Oct 20, 2020


BALME RECOGNISED AS 2020 NEALE DANIHER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER

At the 2020 Shadforth Financial Group AFL Coaches Awards Night held online tonight, Neale Daniher announced the winner of the award named after him, the 2020 Neale Daniher AFL Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award was one of the greats of football, Neil Balme. 

Nathan Buckley, Chris Scott and Damien Hardwick movingly spoke about the huge influence of Balme not only on their careers, but their lives. Whilst former Richmond coach and premiership player, and Balme’s close friend Barry Richardson spoke to the 51-year contribution and impact Balme has had on the game as a player, coach and administrator.

VIDEO: BUCKLEY, SCOTT, HARDWICK & BARRY RICHARDSON ON NEIL BALME



BACKGROUND ON NEIL BALME – 2020 NEALE DANIHER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER

Neil Balme’s illustrious AFL/VFL career started 50 years ago, when he kicked four goals in his senior debut with Richmond late in the 1970 season.

Balme had been recruited by the Tigers from WAFL club Subiaco, where he’d played senior football at just 16 years of age, performing admirably against ruck legend Polly Farmer in one match.

The big forward/ruckman went on to play 17 games and kick 28 goals in the 1971 season, with Richmond finishing third.

He won the Tigers’ leading goalkicker award the following season with 55 goals, when the team was runner-up.

In 1973, Richmond went one better to win the premiership, and Balme again was its leading goalkicker for the season with 34 goals.

Balme played a prominent role for the Tigers when they made it back-to-back flags in 1974. 

He was Richmond’s vice-captain in 1976, and in 1977 he finished runner-up in the Club’s Best and Fairest award, having played predominantly as a ruckman that year.

At the end of the 1979 season, Balme retired from league football. He had played 159 games and kicked 229 goals in an excellent, decade-long career with the Tigers.

Balme subsequently took over as coach of SANFL club Norwood, and he enjoyed considerable success in that role from 1980-90, guiding the Redlegs to premierships in 1982 and 1984. 

He then became the inaugural coach of merged SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens and led the Eagles to fourth and third in two years at the helm, before returning to Victoria after being appointed Melbourne’s senior coach.

Balme had five seasons coaching the Demons (1993-97), lifting them to a preliminary final berth in 1994 and being named coach of the All Australian team that year.

In 1998, Balme’s football journey diverted down a different path, when he was appointed Football Operations Manager at Collingwood.

It was a role he held until the end of the 2006 season, with the Magpies making two Grand Finals during that time, in 2002 and 2003.

Balme then became Geelong’s Football Operations Manager, and his eight-year term there included three premierships – in 2007, 2009 and 2011.

A two-year stint back at Collingwood as Director of Coaching followed for Balme, and then, at the end of the 2016 season, he made a very welcome return to where it had all began for him at AFL/VFL level, Richmond.

As General Manager of Football, Balme played an important role in the Tigers’ drought-breaking 2017 premiership, and then the 2019 flag triumph, through his vast football experience and calm, rational demeanour.

These days, Balme is a senior advisor with Richmond, and he continues to make a valuable contribution at the Club.

Balme is a Richmond life member and a Tigers’ Hall of Fame inductee. He’s also a life member at Norwood.