Former Demon Dom Barry feels like a different person after being picked up by Port Adelaide

FORMER Demon DOM Barry is glad Port Adelaide has thrown him an AFL lifeline and says he is a different person since spending time away from the game.

Former Demon Dom Barry has been given a second chance by Port Adelaide. Picture: Michael Klein

POWER recruit Dom Barry thinks of himself as a different person than the one who walked out on Melbourne in 2014 and seemed lost to football.

After quickly being congratulated by Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley on being taken at No. 61 in the national draft, Barry has begun the second phase of his football career — three years on.

Barry, now 23, had left the game a troubled soul.

He went back to his roots in Central Australia to be close to family and his indigenous community, completed men’s business — a traditional Aboriginal initiation ceremony — and developed a passion for teaching.

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Former Demon Dom Barry has been given a second chance by Port Adelaide. Picture: Michael Klein

It took him a couple of years of growing up to find his path again, which he did while playing bush footy and driving a school bus, reconnecting with the land and developing a different view of the world.

After a fine year with Glenelg in the SANFL, Barry attracted interest from several clubs, and the main question from recruiters was this: “Is AFL football what you really want?”

Unlike his first time around, Barry could confidently respond in the affirmative.

“I feel like a completely different person from when I was at the Demons,” Barry said. “I’ve physically developed and am mentally in a better space after my time in the APY lands.

“And I’ve got the teaching side as well now and that’s something I’m completely passionate about — helping the kids in the community.

“That’s keeping me on the straight and narrow, I guess.”

Barry has no regrets in leaving the game in which he had promised so much for Melbourne, both at reserves and senior level.

He had started to put on some much-needed muscle and looked comfortable at the top level when he left, but Barry wouldn’t change a thing.

“I needed to do what I did,” he said. “Walk away from the game and connect with my cultural identity.

A new Dom Barry will take the field for Port Adelaide in 2018. Picture: Calum Robertson

“There was a pull factor from my family and friends that was huge at the time.

“For my stability and connectedness to culture I needed to do it.

“I’ve done it (men’s business) and fulfilled that obligation.

“Now I can get to work on an AFL list at Port Adelaide and play the best footy that I can.

“Personally I don’t think I was ready (when first drafted).

“When I did go out to men’s business in the APY Lands I felt I grew into a man out there.

“I am who I am today because of it.

“My older brothers had gone through it, my uncles, my grandfathers ... everyone.

“It’s just a continuation of that long history of our that culture.”

Barry, who was approached by Port recruiting man Geoff Parker late in the SANFL season, had not been too concerned about where he’d end up if drafted this year.

But it couldn’t have fallen better for him than to stay in South Australia, where he has family on both sides and is in studying for a teaching degree. at UniSA

“I think it was always going to be a late national draft or a rookie spot and it just happened to be Port Adelaide,” he said. “I was happy with that.

“I wan’t too fussed but at the end of the day I go to uni in Adelaide and feel pretty settled in Adelaide.

“Both my mum’s and dad’s side of the family are in Adelaide and I feel comfortable in that environment.”

Barry, who was in Alice Springs on draft night and checked in for Port’s pre-season today, said nobody had placed any great expectations on him in talks since being welcomed to the club.

The first thing was to knuckle down and get through a long summer’s work.

“They just want me to come in and buy into the Port Adelaide way,” Barry said. “Just give my best in everything I do and things will naturally happen from there.”