www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-seaso...20160620-gpnpc5.html
AFL season 2016: Michael Barlow revives his career with ...
www.theage.com.au
Fremantle midfielder Michael Barlow's Barlow's future was in jeopardy in May, but he has saved his career starring as a tagger in recent weeks.
There's nothing worse than having too many players getting 35-40 possessions a game hey!
And then to only use him as a tagger would be terrible too. Best tagger we've had since Crowley. In fact has any other tagger ever picked up over 40 disposals whilst shutting down his opponents?
But he doesn't have enough pace. So how do these slow players manage to get the ball so often? Must be football smarts, reading the play, putting their body on the line, common sense or something.
Sheridan's got pace though. Pity that he doesn't really like the physical stuff and would be lucky to have picked up over 20 disposals a hand full of times, let alone 40.
But his disposal let's him down. Pearce is three years older than Barlow, only plays well when we win, not known for putting his body on the line, consistently butchers the ball, doesn't tag and gets around 20 disposals on his becoming rarer good days.
Sutcliffe, often played on the wing. Another ball butcherer who would dream of getting the ball as often as Barlow. Not renowned for his pace.
Can anyone name another club and the player they let go who besides being able to regularly find the ball over 30 times in a game, was also a great team man and mentor, would do anything for his club, is well respected on and off the field by team mates and opposition and then got nothing for him?
Interestingly enough Pavlich in his book either had him on the bench or next in line in his team of the best players he had played with. He also publicly stated that he hoped and wanted to see Barlow offered a contract that would keep him at the club. He didn't include Sheridan, Pearce or Sutcliffe. Knows something about the game Pav and maybe he too saw the value of keeping him in purple.
