MANY AFLW stars made the moves to new clubs in the offseason and as we head toward season seven of the competition, we here at Rookie Me Central are going to take a look at some of these players and take a look at what kind of impact they can potentially make on their new teams this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we take a look at former Cat, now Collingwood<\/a> forward Olivia Barber<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the expansion period, Collingwood lost key forward Sophie Alexander<\/a> to Essendon, so were in the market for a key tall forward to take her place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter Barber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally drafted in 2020, Barber played every game bar one in her debut year, but due to a knee (not ACL) injury she was limited to only three earlier this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is a key forward, who sensationally kicked a goal with her heel on debut against Collingwood<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although not as experienced, Barber can still slot seamlessly into the role Alexander used to fill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She is a similar pace to Alexander, but is seven centimetres taller, so she can easily provide that tall target down forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She can slot seamlessly in alongside the likes of fellow talls Sabrina Frederick<\/a> and Imogen Barnett<\/a>, and with Frederick likely to take the best defender, this gives Barber the opportunity to slip under the radar and get to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She can also pinch hit in the ruck, which will free up the likes of Frederick to become an even more dangerous target up forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although her stats from her days at Geelong do not paint the prettiest picture, with the line up she now finds herself in, she is only going to grow and develop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She is going to learn and improve off the likes of Frederick, and even though the Collingwood midfield is going to be depleted this season, she will still have the likes of Stephanie Chiocci<\/a>, Jaimee Lambert<\/a> and Sarah Rowe<\/a> feeding her the ball into the forward 50, so she is going to get vastly more opportunities to score and make an impact on the game then she did at Geelong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So in the end, it can be argued Barber was not able to show her full capabilities at Geelong, so if she stays injury free she is only going to grow, improve and develop and really show the kind of capabilities that earnt her All Australian honours at the Under 18 National Championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is also a Collingwood supporter Pies fans, so if nothing else and she is anything like the other players who came to the club as fans, she will be one loyal recruit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n