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<\/p>\nThe Demons\u2019 mass signing wave has continued into the new year, and this time it is club legend Michael Barlow making a return to the Goulburn Valley League\u2019s red and blue side.<\/p>\n
The current North Melbourne midfield coach and former 141-game AFL player has departed North Warrnambool after winning a flag at the club in 2025, returning to a bolstered Demons list for 2026.<\/p>\n
Shepparton United president Kevin Hicks said it was Barlow that made first contact about rejoining the Skene St end of Deakin Reserve, and despite his coaching promotion at Arden St, the 38-year-old was still keen to commit to the club when availability arises.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe reached out to us via Peter Ralph, someone he spent a lot of time with during his playing days,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he would be interested, and that was a while ago before he obviously got his new role at North Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe originally was committed to playing 10 games, but now he\u2019ll definitely play three, but could be more subject to availability.\u201d<\/p>\n
A theme to Shepparton United\u2019s recruiting drive this off-season has been the influx of experienced heads, and Barlow\u2019s career resume may be the cherry on top to a growing senior list.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an elite player, but he will assist the leaders with good coaching tuition as well,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Michael Barlow\u2019s appearances will come subject to availability following his promotion to North Melbourne midfield coach.
\n Photo by
\n Rechelle Zammit<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty hard to measure the value, it\u2019s priceless.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our recruits this year have had strong connections to the club previously, but are coming back with a lot more experience and improved ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are all sorts of leaders in their field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hicks expects the leaders to be on show when the Demons embark down the Great Ocean Road for a pre-season training camp in Torquay next week, allowing time for the new recruits to gel with the previous playing cohort.<\/p>\n
The coastal camp will kickstart the chemistry of a new look Shepparton United, with the Demons\u2019 extra depth expected to be the difference maker in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m grateful for is that the boys that have been there the last four-odd years that have done it hard might get the benefit and reward now,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had lots of kids get opportunities prior to readiness and we needed a stronger 18 to put pressure on the senior 18.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we can have a solid 30 players fighting for a spot in the best 20, instead of 20 assuming their spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cA bit of depth goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barlow\u2019s first match back in his home town colours could first occur in round three against Shepparton Swans, with North Melbourne slated for a home Sunday fixture that weekend.<\/p>\n
A Kangaroos bye on the weekend of May 30 opens up availability for Barlow in round eight against reigning premiers Kyabram, but given the AFL\u2019s rolling fixture from late-June, any other potential chances at seeing the former Docker and Sun remain unknown for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Demons\u2019 mass signing wave has continued into the new year, and this time it is club legend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-439937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}