Barlow’s back to Werribee

WERRIBEE has kicked off its 2019 VFL recruiting campaign with a bang by enticing favourite son Michael Barlow (below) back home.

The former star Fremantle and Gold Coast midfielder returns to Avalon Airport Oval as playing assistant coach under new senior coach Mark “Choco” Williams.

Barlow, who played 38 VFL games in two seasons at Chirnside Park before carving out a 141-game AFL career, said he had been keen to make an early commitment to the club that gave him his start in elite football and begin working and training as soon as possible.

“I’ve always had a really strong affiliation with the place through the opportunities it first gave me,” the 30-year-old said of his decision to return.

“The ability to continue to play and get that fix while upskilling myself under Mark Williams in an assistant coaching capacity and working with some really driven players appealed to me pretty strongly.”

Barlow’s AFL opportunity came on the back of a stellar 2009 campaign with Werribee, during which he finished second in the Liston Trophy count and won both the Fothergill-Round Medal as the VFL’s most promising young player and the Bruce Montgomery Trophy as his club’s best-and-fairest.

He was taken by Fremantle in the 2010 rookie draft.

Werribee football operations manager Stuart Balloch said Barlow was a key signing.

“To say the club is thrilled would be an understatement. It’s a great coup,” Balloch said.

“To see him come back and continue to develop in our program as a coach is testament to the direction that our program is headed. He is a hugely respected and popular person within the industry.”