Ed Barlow

[Snake]

Once I heard on the radio that LRT was out and Barlow was going to replace him, I thougt yep swans will get whipped. Catter Thompson was probably smiling with glee and simply knew that he could expose him.

Last year I made a comment about him being deadset rubbish, and basically he still is.........

[bondy]

It makes me sad that he got picked over Bevan, Vespremi etc etc. Hyph for Barlow was a terrible exchange.

[Yuri H]

Poor Ed. I hate to pile on, but ... yeah. Maybe we can give him to GWS as a Trojan Hors- errr, housewarming present.

[goswannie14]

Your memory is failing you. In the early 90's we had a dozen Ed Barlow's.

We also had plenty of them in the early 70's.

[Jeffers1984]

Butter...

[ScottH]

I wondered if he was colour blind??
Someone should've told him the difference was easy, hoops v Vs

[CJK]

I've seen better.

[Molly dooker]

I have so wanted Ed to come to the fore, he has height, he kills it in running, he has been coached and pushed for years now and sometimes in the Ressies he shines. Yesterday unfortunately he came out to play against Geelong for his first game of the season and it just showed how far away he is from our best 22. If we played him in a game like Richmond we'd possibly be singing his praises but that didn't happen. I wish him the best but I don't think he's going to cut it, the cheese that is. There were opportunities where I was willing him to chase and use his speed to catch an opponent, he didn't lift his workrate, he looked beaten.

Poor love, I do feel sorry for him however this isn't a popularity contest it's football and hindsight is 20/20 as we all know and in retrospect calling Ed up was a mistake.

[Primmy]

I have so wanted Ed to come to the fore, he has height, he kills it in running, he has been coached and pushed for years now and sometimes in the Ressies he shines. Yesterday unfortunately he came out to play against Geelong for his first game of the season and it just showed how far away he is from our best 22. If we played him in a game like Richmond we'd possibly be singing his praises but that didn't happen. I wish him the best but I don't think he's going to cut it, the cheese that is. There were opportunities where I was willing him to chase and use his speed to catch an opponent, he didn't lift his workrate, he looked beaten.

Poor love, I do feel sorry for him however this isn't a popularity contest it's football and hindsight is 20/20 as we all know and in retrospect calling Ed up was a mistake.

I agree with all of what you said Molly, you just want to push him to have peripheral vision, go into contested situations with abandon, be able to read the play and get to contests, etc etc etc. But it just isn't happening.
However, who else would they have called on at this stage.....they had him as emergency, and the other possible MOD wouldn't have been suitable either....... Big Unit required at very short notice, and LJ is still 12-18 months away.... However the PTB persist with him, he is a nice bloke, classic dry sense of humour, and I hope it all comes together, but somehow in my lurking bones I don't think so.....

[aardvark]

Ed was never going to play as a key backman and his inclusion didn't free up anyone else to play there. At least MOD could have gone to pods and probably done a better job than teddy.
Probably wouldn't have made much difference either way in the end.

[johnno]

I really do hate hanging crap on our players, I really have wanted Ed to do well, he's been with us for a while now and unfortunatley I have to agree with many posters here, the boy is just not up to it. A bit too soft to be playing AFL seniors. I dont know how he goes in the ressies, but he's not cut out for the seniors....sorry Ed.

[Plugger46]

Your memory is failing you. In the early 90's we had a dozen Ed Barlow's.

Exactly. Ed would have been one of our better players during that period.

[Plugger1300]

Agree with 95% of posts. He was caught with the ball fart too many times. Might be a nice guy but not an AFL footballer, hopefully that was his last outing in the red and white

[snajik]

Never been too keen on this style of thread. i've seen Ed play some good games. It's true that yesterday wasn't one of them. It was a tough assignment and not a good day to be off your game against a very ruthless Cats outfit. That it was his first seniors game for the year didn't help. Hard to find your groove against a team with such talent on top of its game. It was a pretty complete game from the Cats. Still he wasn't the only one that looked all at sea. Geelong's relentless pressure made a number of Bloods look ordinary yesterday. There are deficiencies in Ed's game that need to be addressed, but I'm not giving up on him just yet.

[Big Al]

Geelong's relentless pressure made a number of Bloods look ordinary yesterday. There are deficiencies in Ed's game that need to be addressed, but I'm not giving up on him just yet.

It's refreshing to see supporters supporting players in their time of need regardless of how hopeless the situation is.