Local footy: Michael Barlow the perfect fit for WRFL club Yarraville-Seddon
New Yarraville-Seddon coach Michael Barlow explains what attracted him to the WRFL club and the invaluable guidance he received from an AFL premiership coach.
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Young and hard-working playing group he can develop? Tick.
Division 1 club in a major suburban league? Tick.
Close to his home in Newport? Tick.
For Michael Barlow, Western Region Football League outfit Yarraville-Seddon was the perfect fit to make his start in senior coaching.
Barlow made the most of his ability to squeeze out 141 AFL games across nine seasons.
He forged his own path to the elite ranks, starring for Shepparton United as a teenager instead of attracting the eager eyes of recruiters in Victoria’s top under-18 competition.
In 2009, he shot to prominence when he claimed Werribee’s best-and-fairest award, the VFL’s Fothergill-Round Medal and finished second in the J.J Liston Trophy.
After seven seasons at Fremantle and two with Gold Coast, he returned to Watton Street last year to take up a playing assistant coaching role under Port Adelaide premiership mentor Mark ‘Choco’ Williams.
But a cancelled season because of the coronavirus crisis forced Barlow to ponder his next move.
The 32-year-old was uncertain how he would come back at VFL level from a season off.
But the passion to play and coach remained.
“I think the time under ‘Choco’ has been my most significant learning and exposure to it because I’ve actually been doing the coaching,” Barlow said.
“I’m mindful it’s a level down, but there will be a lot of things that I’ve learnt (at Werribee) that I’ll attach to running my own program.
“All the advice I’ve got along the way in terms of coaching and some mentors that I follow through with is that if I do have aspiration or direction to go a fair way with my coaching, then dive in and coach your own team.”
Barlow has put pen to paper on a two-year deal with the Eagles in a coaching coup.
He will also be director of coaching as the club looks to bolster its enviable junior program.
Some ex-AFL players have struggled to apply their knowledge after taking charge of community clubs.
They go from full-time professional environments to leading a group of players with day jobs at clubs with stretched resources.
But Barlow said he had “lived the experience” of a local footballer during his team in the Goulburn Valley league and was confident he would adapt.
He said it was an exciting time for Yarraville-Seddon, which claimed the Division 2 flag in 2019.
That success came after three consecutive grand final defeats – a strong platform for promotion to Division 1.
“There has to be a fair bit go right to get to them and it doesn’t take much to go wrong on a grand final day to miss out,” said Barlow, who was a member of the Fremantle side beaten by Hawthorn in the 2013 AFL decider.
“Even from discussions on the phone, there’s real excitement about going up and kind of an expectation to do quite well and compete. Probably not to the level to jump up and snatch (a premiership) in Division 1 straight away, but there’s self-belief and what I can bring in terms of a coach and a player.
“I want to really pass on and infiltrate that through the group … there’s no excuse why we can’t be really aspirational about what 2021 might look like if we do it the right way.”
Barlow noted the savage cuts to the salary cap because of the pandemic “won’t impact a club like ours”.
Division 1 clubs are set to have $100,000 to spend in 2021, and the Eagles could reap the rewards of their flood of juniors in coming years as recruiting becomes more difficult.
Brandon Lester, who has won the past two best-and-fairests, headlines the young guns at Yarraville-Seddon’s disposal.
Lachie Huell, Jack Webster and Blake Green are among other emerging players.
“When they’re young and aspirational, they love to play and do it for all the right reasons,” Barlow said.
“In the climate at the moment with COVID, it’s going to be a bit of a challenge to get the ball rolling, but four or five of us have got a bit of plan at the moment to see where the list is at and get those players who were connected and engaged for 2020 on board for 2021.
“That’s the initial aim, to utilise that successful Division 2 side and program as much as we can, and then there will probably be some views to add in some experience where we might need it in certain positions on the ground.”
Andrejs Everitt, who played for Western Bulldogs, Sydney and Carlton during 10-year AFL career, will be an invaluable resource for the new coach.
Everitt bagged 40 goals from 16 games for in his first season with the Eagles in 2019.
“I don’t know ‘dre’ personally but have obviously had a connection of knowing what he’d done through his career from a young age,” Barlow said.
“I have a few connections who are close with him and all the feedback is that he’ll probably be my most important resource in terms of having played with the group, and they’re a young group. All the reports are that he’s held in such high regard by them.
“We want to really empower someone like him to continue to take a stranglehold on the group and lead them in the right way.
“We want to get him more actively involved in a coaching and mentoring capacity, which he’s been doing, but it probably hasn’t been as formalised as we’d like to acknowledge for him.”
Barlow said he hoped to have his coaching team finalised in the next two weeks.
He said a game-day board coach with “really sound knowledge” of the team and league would be vital.
Barlow will then turn his attention to identifying gaps in the list, becoming accustomed to the player points system and targeting prospective recruits.
The big-bodied midfielder is also likely to pose a serious threat to opposition WRFL sides on the ground.
He managed 13 appearances for Werribee in 2019, earning seven mentions in the best.
“I’m pretty fit and healthy,” Barlow said.
“I still love running and keeping fit and active.
“There probably was a bit of an element not recommitting at VFL level as to what effect being out for this long at this age would have.
“I’m pretty comfortable I’ll be able to move around pretty freely out there and make a good contribution.”
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