Sydney Swans co-captain Leo Barry has expressed disappointment in teammate Barry Hall, after the forward was charged with striking Brent Staker on Saturday night, but believes Hall will earn back the respect of the playing group.
Speaking to the press on Monday afternoon, Barry said that, while Swans’ playing group felt Hall had let them down, they were confident in Hall’s ability to make up for his actions.
“I think everyone’s disappointed in what happened with Hally’s actions,” said Barry.
“I think everyone has felt as though he’s let everyone down a bit, but he’s got to face the consequences, and we’ve just got to move on and look forward to the next week.”
“Over the last four or five years, he’s been exemplary in the way he conducts himself and the way he proves himself on and off the field, but I think we all are generally disappointed with what happened.”
Barry said the club’s leadership group would probably sit down with Hall later in the week to discuss his actions.
“At some stage we’ll have discussions with Hally. He understands the situation, has taken full responsibility, so he’s going to take it on the chin and move forward.
“He’s disappointed. He’ll bounce back pretty quickly, he’s a pretty resilient sort of fellow. He understand what's happened and what's required to get back into the team.”
After a strong start to the season, with three wins in the first four rounds, Barry believes the club will be able to cover the loss of Hall.
“We still think we can be a really formidable team. Our form has been really good, and we play Geelong this weekend, which is going to be a huge test. We played good footy last year without Hally, so we’re just taking a step forward to do that.”
“We’ve still got a few guys who can come into the team. We’ve got pretty good depth here at the moment. Nick Davis is a possibility to come back. He’s been playing pretty good footy.”
Barry said the Swans are looking forward to facing the 2007 premiers, Geelong, on Saturday afternoon, the side’s greatest challenge yet this season.
“We’ll go in as underdogs, but it will give us a good indication of where we’re at at the moment. Apart from the St Kilda game, which we only lost by two points, our form has been really good. West Coast were a little bit undermanned on the weekend, but we showed we can play good, accountable football and kick a good winning score.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge. Their midfield has been exceptional; they’ve been winning a lot of the ball. They’re definitely the measuring stick at this stage. For us, it’s really just seeing where we are at and how much we need to improve to be in the top few.
The Swans’ co-captain listed both Nick Davis and Heath Grundy as a chance to come in for Hall.
“It’s about restructuring... Hopefully, we get Spida [Everitt] back in the next couple of weeks which would be good, which would be able to free up Lewie [Lewis Roberts-Thomson], who would be able to go forward or back. As I said, we’ve got really good flexibility at the moment, down back and forward.
“Hopefully, like last year, it just gave a few other guys a few opportunities to play and we won some really good games last year without Hally playing as well.
“We are still confident in our team and how we’ve been playing.”
