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Bret Harris | June 16, 2009
Article from: The Australian
WALLABIES inside centre Berrick Barnes will wait for the Queensland Reds to complete their end of season review before recommitting to the under-performing Super 14 team.
The review will involve a brain-storming session at Ballymore tomorrow night, involving almost every living ex-Reds coach, including John Connolly, Mark McBain, Andrew Slack and Jeff Miller.
Barnes has indicated his preference is to stay at the Reds, but he wants to see what changes the review recommends before he re-signs.
The Reds have finished in the bottom three every year since Barnes made his Super rugby debut against the Waratahs in 2006, which must be a source of frustration for such a great competitor.
"My manager Pete Rogers is just working things out at the moment," Barnes said. "I don't think we should be too far away.
"I'm looking to stay with Queensland ... We are just sorting things out.
"The review process and everything that's happening ... once they clear that up, hopefully I'll get a better picture of where things are going and make a decision."
If Barnes was unhappy with the outcome of the Reds' review, he could always consider an offer from the Western Force.
"There has been a bit of talk, but I'm reasonably happy where I am at the moment," Barnes said.
Queensland Rugby Union chairman Peter Lewis said Barnes had been heavily involved in the review process.
"Berrick is in the leadership group. He is a smart young man. He is keen to see that if we make any changes, they are the right changes," Lewis said.
"He has been very much part of the process."
Lewis said the Reds wanted to tap into the rugby intelligence of the team's past coaches at the meeting at Ballymore tomorrow night. "They have a lot of intellectual firepower to contribute, but there is no infrastructure to get them involved," Lewis said.
"It's crazy if we don't put some structures around them so their ideas can be funnelled to Queensland more formally."
While the Reds have failed to deliver, Barnes has enjoyed more success playing for the Wallabies. The kicking game of Barnes and five-eighth Matt Giteau was a feature of the Wallabies' 31-8 win against Italy in Canberra last Saturday night.
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans began to develop a strategy based on playing for field position last year, but the players are executing the game plan much better this season.
"One of the things that has been pretty pleasing the last two weeks has been our kicking game," Barnes said.
"We've put ourselves in good positions of the field and we've limited the amount of time they've had down our end through our kicking game.
"That's been very pleasing. It just goes to show the practice we are doing. From nine to 15 everyone has been able to contribute in some way, shape or form in that aspect of the game.
"It's simple football, really. If you keep grinding sides out, you keep putting them back in their own half -- in the corners -- you build pressure.
"I definitely don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot. If you can do that to the other side, it is definitely going to turn the screws."
Barnes said the cold, slippery conditions in Canberra also contributed to the Wallabies kicking the ball 37 times in general play.
"We are using the ball when we can," Barnes said. "In those conditions if you tried to run the ball from your own half, you were always going to make an error after two or three phases.
"That's why it wasn't such a flowing game. It was a cake of soap out there for a lot of it.
"We did use some ball. Our first phase set piece was pretty good."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html
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