How Low? So Low, Barlow

[Triple B]

Not sure about the last one, memory can get hazy in the heat of battle, but I clearly remember turning to my mate and saying he should have handballed over the top to Goodes in the boundary one 5 minutes earlier. Mind you, I was on the other side of the ground and he maybe couldn't have got the handball over the top.

As for his overall game, as I noted elsewhere, his chasing and endeavour was easily the best I have ever seen from him and I've seen him in plenty of reserves games as well putting in a quarter of the effort he put in last night.

[ugg]

Others have already said what I've been thinking - that he played well.

But no one has mentioned anything about his last shot of goal. I thought he was trying to 'play the hero' by getting the last goal that wins us the game, instead of passing to a player in a better positon. (And i thought did the same thing maybe five minutes before from the boundary?)

Did anyone else think that?

Yes, it was right in front of me, he was in a group of 3 Swans and he didn't even look to give it off.

[shaun..]

Though he has the tendency to crumble under pressure, he played pretty well and better than a lot of other players in our side. It would've been great if he sucessfully converted those 2 behinds to goals.

One of which, Goodes probably could've done more to shepherd it through

Also needs to be seen as a genuine target up forward. Was dismissed a couple of times when free inside the F50.

EDIT: Although.. Goodes 1on1 with O'Brien might be another argument

[Wazza]

Pretty harsh on Barlow he has come back into the side against one of the hardest teams in the AFL, the Pies defensive pressure and hardness at the ball was awesome.

Barlow worked his bum bum off and IMHO did pretty well given he has been playing in Canberra, the step up to AFL is huge.

Barlow just needs to get 10 games in a row under his belt and we "may" see his true potential.

Cheers

Waz

[giant]

Made some blunders but got better as the night went on. Never gonna be the toughest nut in our team but certainly deserves a game next week.

[Jeffers1984]

He looked OK. I'm one of his biggest critics but he had a bit more of a presence out there.

Liz is right that he lacks anticipation and reading of the play at the fall of the ball but i think he is worth persisting with till the end of the year at least.

Glad he seems to have his set shot technique back. He really is a dead eye dick when he is on.

[Plugger46]

I've been critical of him in the past but I thought he played pretty well the other night.

[Margie]

There was definitely an improvement in Barlow on Saturday night. He made a couple of mistakes (who didn't?) but generally seemed to work harder and smarter.

[ShockOfHair]

I think we're at the stage where we really need to give Barlow a chance to establish himself. We persevered with Beov and McH for awhile. Barlow is a mid-tall who can get his hands on the ball and bomb in goals from 50 - skills we badly need.

Watching him earlier this year I thought he did stand back from the contest at times and - classic young player mistake that Roos called him out on - panicked in front of goal, making a rushed shot instead of passing off. Leave him in the side and let him build his confidence.

[UglyDuckling]

Some Ed Barlow stats from last night;

12 Kicks and 4 handpasses. 75%efficiency, 5 contested possessions, 4 inside 50, 2 clangers, 0 clearances, 2 tackles, 0 assists, 1 goal 2 points (my point about his finishing in the game thread) 92% game time so he was given plenty of time to show his wares.

The big stat is metres gained; he was 4th best on the ground with 530 metres and ROK being 1st with 790 metres. He had 16 possessions and ROK 41!!!!!

From that I gleaned that he got many possessions in the clear and was able to deliver long. Is the key to him being set up as a link man running to space that might quicken up the movement by our mob. Is his value away from contested possession? When he burst onto the scene he played exactly this style.

We have so many run with/negating players that if we develop him in this linkman role mould it might just give us some variety in our game.

This is an absolutely fantastic post!
Right on the money.

[Cardinal]

Some Ed Barlow stats from last night;

12 Kicks and 4 handpasses. 75%efficiency, 5 contested possessions, 4 inside 50, 2 clangers, 0 clearances, 2 tackles, 0 assists, 1 goal 2 points (my point about his finishing in the game thread) 92% game time so he was given plenty of time to show his wares.

The big stat is metres gained; he was 4th best on the ground with 530 metres and ROK being 1st with 790 metres. He had 16 possessions and ROK 41!!!!!

From that I gleaned that he got many possessions in the clear and was able to deliver long. Is the key to him being set up as a link man running to space that might quicken up the movement by our mob. Is his value away from contested possession? When he burst onto the scene he played exactly this style.

We have so many run with/negating players that if we develop him in this linkman role mould it might just give us some variety in our game.

You're right - it was a good post. Shows potential.

[snajik]

A very encouraging effort from Barlow on Saturday night. I think it's imperative that he plays every remaining game even if his form fluctuates. He really could be star of the future he just needs some momentum. There is a touch of Dale Lewis about him I reckon, and I'm not being perjorative.