Everyone is guilty of it; forming an opinion about people they have never met based on a perception of what they have seen or read.
‘He seems like a genuine guy’; ‘She’s lovely.’ ‘What a lowlife.’
Judgments made without having had any direct personal interactions. Professional athletes are among those who regularly experience presumptive character analysis. Or assassination, from afar.
So often male sports stars are pigeon holed as the quintessential ‘jock.’ Big and strong, capable of lifting heavy things but incapable of intelligent conversation.
Should people characterise West Coast Eagles defender Tom Barrass as the archetypal athlete who advertises his IQ with the number 37 on his back then nothing could be further from reality.
Not only does he possess an acute game sense when playing in defence for the Eagles, but he scored 98.3 in his Australian Tertiary Entrance Ranking when completing Year 12 at Hale School in 2013.
When he participates in a media conference his insights are captivating. The media relish such encounters because he usually responds with unique, well-articulated and thoughtful responses to run-of-the-mill questions.
From a club perspective he’s not always completely on message but there is a respect for his personal views and level of cerebral engagement.
Tonight, when the Eagles play Fremantle in RAC Derby #59 Barrass will play his 150th game and qualify for life membership. It has been an eventful 11 years in the making, overcoming a range of injury concerns, especially early in his career, to become one of the elite key defenders in the game.
The left-footed powerhouse was a key element in the 2018 premiership, working in conjunction with close mate Jeremy McGovern. That pair of Claremont products have forged one of the great defensive forces of the modern era.
Each of them has an innate ability to read the ball early and combined with their fearless commitment in the air it has made it virtually impossible for the opposition to go through them. Instead they devise ways to navigate around them.
But so adept are this dynamic duo at setting up in the right positions they are still able to intercept and repel.
In that epic Grand Final, when the Eagles recovered from a slow start to beat Collingwood by five points, Barrass was sublime, especially in the first half, when opposed to Pies giant Mason Cox.
In the preliminary final victory over Richmond, Cox was devastating in the air; given the chance to run at the ball he extended his telescopic arms to take countless marks in the forward half. Barrass simply did not allow Cox the same luxury, taking away that asset by astute body positioning and either taking an intercept mark or opting to spoil with great authority.
In 2022 when he won the Club Champion Award he went into the count with most insiders wondering who would finish runner-up, so outstanding was he in that season.
Barrass duly joined the ranks of club greats by claiming the John Worsfold Medal and in doing so continued a remarkable tradition of key defenders who have won the club’s highest accolade.
Glen Jakovich (four times), Darren Glass (three), Ashley McIntosh and Eric Mackenzie had all been crowned Club Champions before Barrass. When it comes time to select the best team of all time as the club celebrates 50 years in 2036 the panel is going to have a hell of time eliminating any of those players from the line-up.
While Barrass will become the 48th player to hit the momentous 150-game milestone for the club another significant achievement will come at the other end of the ground.
Forward Jake Waterman, the son of dual premiership star Chris Waterman, will become the first father-son selection in club history to play 100 games.
He was taken with the final selection (#77) in the 2016 National Draft although that number is skewed because other clubs were aware that the Eagles would match a bid earlier in the ballot so it was a waste of energy.
Waterman is a remarkable success story who this year is enjoying a breakout season., He and Barrass deserve to celebrate with victory.
