the season with 470, winning his second club Best & Fairest Award. He finished 7th in the Brownlow Medal for the season, clearly St Kilda FC's leading vote winner. Barker was rumoured to have won a vehicle for being awarded the Best & Fairest in 1981, which he promptly raffled off to raise money for the club to stay in the league and continue to field a team each week. In 1982 Barker was restricted to 14 games through injury, with his off-filed leadership becoming more important to St Kilda FC as severe financial hardship began to have its effect on the organisation as a whole. The Saints were having difficulties meeting financial requirements and commitments required to merely field a team in the competition. Captain of St Kilda FC 1983 to 1986 Barker was appointed Captain of the St Kilda Football Club prior to the start of the 1983 Premiership Season. His commitment to the club was more than that of a full-time player. He was regularly involved in organized and sometimes impromptu fund raising for the team to keep its playing list on the field for matches during his captaincy. Repeatedly replying to queries on whether St Kilda FC would have any kind of future at all with reiterating that the club was too important to let disappear. He worked diligently off the field to help continue St Kilda FC appearing on the field in the most traumatic and stressful time in the clubs history. On-field results began to become an almost secondary issue to off-filed financial restraints, which permeated through all aspects of St Kilda FC through the mid 1980's. Barker continually reiterated the importance of the club as a whole, working off-field to find solutions to financial issues that were seen as insurmountable to some. Barker played 16 & 14 games respectively in 1983 and 1984, just 4 in 1985, and 18 in 1986 where he averaged 16.2 disposals per game. He also worked off-field to attempt to settle St Kilda FC's debts with its creditors, to allow the Saints to continue to operate as a business in the League as a whole, and fend off administration or liquidation. The then VFL administration began to discuss plans to further expand the competition, with a view to attempting to make it a national Australian League. The league stated it was in too difficult financial condition to offer