Temora Boy Barrett’s Thriving At GIANTS

This article originally appeared on the Daily Advertiser Website.

By Matt Malone.

Three months into his first pre-season at the GIANTS and Barrett is loving the intensity of full-time training with some of the game’s most exciting talent.

Barrett, who was picked up as a zone selection by GWS in last year’s draft, struggled with the workload early on but is now thriving as he begins to find his feet.

Barrett yesterday admitted he has no idea what chance he is of getting a game at the GIANTS, or when, but is simply keeping his head down and working as hard as possible in the hope good things happen.

“I couldn’t tell you to tell the truth,” Barrett said about his chances of a pre-season game.

“I’m just rocking up to training doing the best I can and hopefully everything turns out all right.

“I just want to get through the pre-season.”

GWS kick off its pre-season campaign with a clash against Sydney on February 20 at Canberra, before it travels to Wagga for the clash against St Kilda on March 1.

Barrett, 18, said he would love the opportunity to play in front of a Riverina crowd but he has not set any goals just yet on what he hopes to achieve in his debut season.

“I haven’t really set many goals at the moment,” Barrett said.

“If I could play a couple of games that would be awesome, obviously, just the experience, but there is a lot of young players here in line so I’ve just got to try and work my way up.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Barrett said new Giants recruits Heath Shaw and Josh Hunt have been very helpful throughout pre-season, while the likes of Dylan Shiel, Tom Scully, and Adam Treloar have impressed on the track.

Barrett was this week handed number 43 for his debut season and inherits the number from fellow Riverina product Kurt Aylett, who was traded to Essendon.

“It was a pretty good feeling to to get a number for the first time,” Barrett said.

“To get your own number for an AFL side, it’s pretty awesome.”

Barrett is currently training as a midfielder at the GIANTS but expects to also spend time forward.