In terms of new draftees under his watch - he hasnt had heaps of defensive talent brought into the club in the last 2 years, however Fields looks to be developing quite well (which would definately be due to the VFL coach and have nothing to do with Barker). Sheehan and Byrne both look like talents off the half back (which must definately be credited to their original gaelic coaches in Ireland). Giles was looking like developing well until crueled by continual injury setbacks (probably because Barker was overworking his running at training). I actually like Holmans game off half back myself and hope he gets a better chance to prove it in the seniors than a 100pt thrashing at the hands of port. Dick showed good signs last week until the MC cut him from the squad, and Simon White firmed into best 22 last season - and was even rotated through the middle in the preseason with some success.
Barker also wasnt dealt the greatest hand in terms of talent to develop after the club delisted guys like Laidler (Mick wanted him to play as a forward), and players like Duigan and Scotland retired either before or during the season. Add to this fools like Bootsma who the club could never control. He also suffered at the hands of Walkers knee injury - which Walker still hasnt gotten over after being elite the season prior.
Regardless in the clubs B&F last year the defense contributed more players than any other line - Simpson 3rd, Yarran 4th, Rowe 5th, Jamo 6th, Docherty 9th. (Im counting Everitt (7th) as a midfielder)
For all your earlier points, you're basically saying - all the gains werent his (even though the players themselves have credited him amongst others), but all the failings were purely Barkers fault. If this is a genuine belief, then I don't think you're approaching it rationally, and will end the discussion here.
Rational discussion. All the players you are talking about were mature players. A couple of guys have started to come good under his watch... but again, they have spent a lot of time working, as you noted, with the VFL development coaches rather than the senior coaches.
When he was in the forward line as the coach, he had some talent come in... who all went backwards. I have heard people saying that Mitchell had attitude problems and couldnt adapt to the pace at AFL level. We had a number of guys who had been on the list for a number of years who appeared to stagnate under Barkers tutelage or go backwards.
Casboult is perhaps the prime example... people joke, when I supple his stats from his TAC year, that he also kicked about 150 OOTF... if he was kicking OOTF, he would also have kicked a lot more than the 14 points he kicked that year. He had a couple of knee injuries in his first couple of years. He was under the tutelage of Lappin for his first year on the list and then Barker came in and he appeared to go backwards. Yes he managed a couple of bags over the years... but every man and his dog has been farting about with his run in and I think that they were doing this on the word of the sports scientists to alleviate pressure on his knees. But while doing this, his ball drop got higher, they put a curve into his run up and he went backwards. 2 weeks with Rocca and suddenly a lot of the problems with his kicking has gone.
Rowe was picked up at the 2011 draft. He spent 2012 out with testicular cancer. He played 10 games in 2013 for a return of 9 goals. He came to us a much better forward than that return. A lot of people claimed, reasonably rightly, that he was suffering from the after-effects of the chemo. But he still should have been a better player than what he was in 2013.
Giles hasnt had continuous injury setbacks. He has had one injury... a fracture to the navicular bone in his foot and wore a moon boot for 8 months and only got it off in Feb this year.
Here are the facts... in his first year at the club, he took over from Matty Lappin as the forwards coach and inherited a stable well drilled forward line and Walker who had just been moved there that year. 2011 was a good year for our forward line, but they would have still been running around pumped up by Matty Lappins training regimes. Barker wouldnt have had to do much... just keep working them.
2012... the club was stricken with injuries and everything went pear shaped. However... players weren't developing. They weren't coming on as expected and experienced players were just stagnating. Any coach worth his salt will keep the experienced players at their peak while bringing the junior players up.
2013... a new senior coach and Barker was on trial in the forward line... he apparently failed the Mick test because he was moved to the defensive line for 2014 as Gavin Browns replacement... presumably because as a forward he might be able to coach the players in how to "read the forwards" and lead them to the ball.
As for crediting the coach... how many people do you know are going to stand up on live TV and credit the previous coach for them getting where they are now? Even if you think that the current coach is a fool, you are going to credit them with doing some good work with you even if you think the opposite.
Not all the failings are Barkers fault... however, in his tenure at the club, things havent improved in a measurable significant manner and that can be laid at his feet.