By Peter Hanlon
Michael Barlow’s birth as an AFL footballer was so laboured, it’s hard to imagine the end could have been just as harrowing.
Delisted by Gold Coast in 2018, nine seasons and 141 games after one of the most storied late-blooming careers had begun, Barlow headed home to Shepparton to be with his dying mother. He needed a family’s guiding hand more than ever.
Michael Barlow addresses his team during his days as Werribee VFL coach.Credit: AFL Photos
“When I finished footy I wasn’t going super as a person at all. I was a bit of a mess – 31, had just lived my dream, and it was all dawning on me pretty quickly that this is over.”
Jenny Barlow had played netball for Warwickshire and trialled for England. To the very end she was coaching Mooroopna. Michael shakes his head at the memory of a netball colleague visiting, and Jenny writing drills in a notebook. “I was watching, thinking she’s working on what they can do at training on Tuesday night, and she might die today.”
Barlow, pictured here coming up against legendary forward Lance “Buddy” Franklin in the 2013 grand final, always put his body on the line.Credit: Pat Scala
Clubs from state and bush leagues were offering Barlow a significant “sugar hit”, and he almost hoped someone would help him take the easy out. Older brother Dom was having none of it.
“He said, ‘It’s not in your nature, you’ve been away for a while’ … he pretty much told me, ‘You’re staying.’ Pretty quickly with Mum’s illness, it straightened me up – what’s important in life, where do you want to go, how do you want to do it?
“I didn’t have any choice but to roll my sleeves up and keep grinding away.”
Grinding away could be Barlow’s Mastermind specialty subject. By the time Jenny died he’d committed to rejoining Werribee in a playing-assistant coaching/community role that paid less than half of what he could have got elsewhere. What he learnt from Mark Williams and the players he coached to the 2023 VFL grand final has been priceless. He treasures Werribee and the VFL for all the club and competition have done for him.
The ball magnet, who was shunned through draft after draft is still racking up big numbers – as North Melbourne’s head of development, a twice-weekly regular with podcaster Dylan Buckley, a sometimes VFL commentator, and grassroots footballer with oldest brother Herb’s North Warrnambool in the Hampden league.
Having such a full and diverse book gives him valuable perspective – not least in balancing the serious business of working at the coalface of an AFL club with the good-natured piss-taking of Footy & Friends, a preview and review show with (ex-Carlton and GWS player) Buckley and Brett Deledio (ex-Richmond and GWS).
“I think we’ve got a great platform for clubs to take things in the way it’s intended,” Barlow says of a vehicle that’s grown from a tiny rented office sharing a single microphone, to a schmick studio in Richmond with cameras feeding a YouTube channel.
“I’m very aware of my role at the club, too. There’s times when you need to be serious and edgy, but there’s also times when we need to not take ourselves too seriously.”
He takes the business of mentoring North’s players seriously indeed, bringing empathy and a tangible example of where grit and resilience can take you. When he urges patience in young players like Riley Hardeman and Brayden George, they can be sure he knows what he’s talking about.
From his game-day seat on the bench in last Sunday’s stirring win over Melbourne, Barlow saw exciting evidence of progress. “A big growth has just been an ability to come out of ourselves and be more connected as a playing group, which I’ve seen really strongly,” he says.
His week gets busy early, recording the pod on Monday and Wednesday mornings and sitting across North’s AFL and VFL programs through game reviews while setting up the week as training coordinator. By Thursday afternoon he puts “a bow tie on footy for the week” with a group of players who voluntarily stick around to contest Barlow’s weekly “Touch Golf” challenge, packed with handball and craft over nine “holes”.
Barlow now has one of the most important roles at North Melbourne, as the club’s head of development.Credit: AFL Photos
“I run it every Thursday arvo, and I don’t think Tom Powell has missed one,” Barlow says. “[It’s the] little things in development coaching … when you see a guy like Tom start to play some consistent footy and get results, that’s pretty cool because you’ve seen the investment they put in.”
At 37, he wonders if he should learn to sit still, but that would take time he hasn’t presently got. He runs 60 to 80 kilometres a week, craving movement to focus his mind. North’s runner, Daniel Cross, coerced him into a mid-week basketball team, which caused great amusement when footage of a 16-year-old teammate ignoring Barlow four times in one play found its way to Arden Street.
Partner Rily recently brought Eddie into the world, a little brother for two-year-old Lonni. When North’s schedule permits, they’ll head to Warrnambool where Dad Herb, sister Maisie and brothers Herb and Dom live. Still having a kick helps with empathy if a fatiguing North player doesn’t see an open teammate in the corridor. Barlow laughs that, with so much hands-on training, his skills might actually be improving.
Doing Eddie’s late feed recently, he watched three different footy shows and concluded they were all talking about the same thing through the same critical lens. He’s seen players and clubs feeling suffocated, and in regular off-site catch-ups with young Kangaroos strives to bring balance. A 2024 coaches’ association gong as development coach of the year indicates he’s hit a sweet spot.
“I do have a lot of time in my role to be able to connect with players and work with them on the grass, in their lives. With the development coaches, it’s [about] how do we technically make you a better player and fundamentally make you a better person as well, which I’m invested in.”
Remembering Jenny brings back her consoling words after his last draft rejection in 2009. In a sliding-doors world where he wasn’t rookie-listed soon after, Barlow thinks he would have gravitated back to Shepparton, used his urban planning degree, played for Shepp United and maybe ended up coaching them.
“And I would have been as happy as a pig in mud doing it. But I’m pretty happy now too.”
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