MICHAEL Barlow capped off a brilliant season on Saturday night, winning Werribee’s best and fairest to go along with his second placing in the Liston medal.
Barlow ran away with the Montgomery Medal, with North Melbourne rookie Alan Obst in second and vice-captain Rob Castello in third.
Barlow was humble in accepting the award, and also pointed out it could have been better.
“To win the best and fairest is a big surprise. It’s something I’m definitely treasuring and something I’ll hold close to my heart for my lifetime,” he said.
“But you really want to win best and fairests in premiership years or finals years.”
However the general consensus of the night was that there was plenty there to be happy about for the Tigers looking to the 2010 season. They beat seven of the top eight sides, including 2008/9 premiers North Ballarat.
“This year we probably just took too long to get our wheels into gear I think,” Barlow said.
“The young boys probably just had to get a few games into them first. Towards the second half of the season you could see that your Steve Kennedys and your Will Martiniellos really just lifted to another level.
“That is only going to hold us in good stead for years to come. I think it’s a warning to the other sides that our youth is on the way up and we’re going to be a good side to come in future years.”
Barlow credits the re-signed Simon Atkins with his rise through the ranks – he competed in an AFL trial earlier on Saturday, impressing with his 20m sprint and beep test times.
“I played most of my footy as a midfielder before I came to Werribee, ‘Axe’ probably thought, ‘yeah, he’s going to be alright as a key position half forward, someone who can give us a bit of body’,” he said.
“Last year was absolutely fantastic for my development, I learnt how to play a new role as a half-forward and to be honest Axe has been fantastic for my development.
“I think early on he was right into me about my efficiency and decision making, he’s pretty positive towards me though. Towards the end of the year I was really starting to hit targets and be more efficient.”
Other awards were won by Travis Lunardi, who was a clear winner for the reserves best and fairest, while Murray recruit Martiniello won the best first-year player.
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