Richmond have stated defender Noah Balta is "committed to earning the trust of his teammates" after being charged with assault.

Balta has already been handed a four-game suspension by the Tigers and will also miss the club's pair of pre-season games due to the incident from late last year, with Balta facing court on Thursday.

The 25-year-old is understood to have pled guilty to assault and will face court again in March, with the Tigers backman facing a heavily interrupted pre-season.

The gun Tiger has been absent from parts of the club's program but has looked to work through additional training sessions, with Balta understanding "he's got to get himself red-hot fit" to make up for lost time.

"He's tracking alright. We've asked him to really dig into his training over the last little bit," backline coach Steve Morris said.

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"What I've seen is a guy who's really committed to earning the trust of his teammates. He's put everything out on the table over the last few weeks, doing extra sessions, and he knows that he's got to get himself red-hot fit.

Noah Balta during Richmond's open training on December 20, 2022 (Photo by Cameron Grimes/Zero Digital Sports)

"He's a really important player to our team and our club. I think he's doing a really good job at the moment under the circumstances he's facing."

Balta was absent from Friday's match simulation session, with the three-term game giving Richmond coaches a look at how their defence will stack up for the opening month of the season.

Second-year stopper Jacob Blight - who is firming as Balta's potential replacement - looked to be part of the preferred team in session, only for a shoulder concern to end his outing early.

While Blight is expected to have avoided a worrying setback, forward Jacob Koschitzke took his place in defence alongside Ben Miller and Nathan Broad, with the ex-Hawk hoping to cement his role under Adem Yze as a flexible key positon asset.

Koschitzke will be trialled in defence for the coming weeks as the Tigers get a gauge of their options for Yze's second season in charge.

"He was an U18 key defender in the All-Australian team and played down back early in his career," Morris said of Koschitzke's selection case.

"He probably had a fair bit of success up forward for Hawthorn and that stuck for a little while. Because he's one of those players where we know what he's going to give us up forward, we want to find out whether there's something more that we might be missing down back.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 24: Jacob Koschitzke of the Tigers competes with Jarrod Witts of the Suns during the round 24 AFL match between Richmond Tigers and Gold Coast Suns at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on August 24, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

"Obviously with Noah missing the first part of the season, it's important that we've got some insurance there.

"'Kosi' is putting his front foot forward and doing a really good job down back, and he certainly understands the system really well. So I'm looking forward to seeing his progression down back in our group over the coming weeks."

Richmond are scheduled to face West Coast and Collingwood on February 17 and 26 respectively as part of their pre-season run, with a Round 1 bout against Carlton on March 13 locked in to start their season.