Less than a month after Panthers were knocked out of the Group 10 premier league finals series, Barrow has been given the task of taking them from competitive to dominant and the former Orange Hawks star already believes they have the potential to take the next step.

“It was too good an opportunity to pass up,” Barrow said.

“The age of the squad, they have a lot of fairly young kids and it is a great time to jump on board.

“In my opinion they have probably the strongest forward pack in the competition, and talent wise they probably have had that for a few years now but their consistency has let them down at times.

“I’m pretty excited about the potential in front of them.”

Barrow has forged a reputation as a classy, tough and hard-working back-rower, five-eighth or centre during a long association with the two blues that included a stint as captain-coach in 2010 and 2011.

He had a break from Group 10 this year, contesting the 2014 season with the Parkes Spacemen in Group 11 where they were defeated in the grand final on Sunday by Dubbo CYMS.

It meant he didn’t get a chance to watch too much Group 10 football but he still managed to see enough of Panthers to know what they’re capable of.

“My brother (Jye) was playing under 18s with Hawks so I went to a few of his games, I saw Panthers play in Mudgee in the semi-finals and watched them play Hawks in Orange,” he said.

“I loved playing with Parkes, I felt like I needed a bit of a change and it was the best thing I could have done.

“I learned a lot off Dennis [Moran] and Patty [Rosser] who were in charge over there, they were a great club to be a part of.”

Barrow will not let too much dust settle before he gets stuck into his new role and will be in Bathurst as soon as possible to sort out some logistical issues with Panthers and begin planning for next season.

One of the biggest challenges he faces is how to juggle his side.

Distinctly underwhelming in the first half of 2014, Panthers finished with a wet sail and snuck into the finals before knocking Hawks out and then losing narrowly to Mudgee under coach John Fearnley.

There were no real weak links in the side by that stage, and it leaves the new mentor with a nice problem.

“I’m not sure where I’m going to slot in yet, it might not be until we have a few pre-season trials that we know where everyone is going to play,” he said.

“I don’t know yet whether ‘Bubba’ [William Kennedy] will be back, he’s retired a few times already and comes back and keeps playing good footy.

“I’d say somewhere in the centres or back row though in terms of where I end up.

“With regard to what else we might need in the side, we have some good young halves in Blake Dean and Joey Bugg, I’m not sure what Matt and Trent Rose are doing at this stage but getting some extra depth is something I’d like to address.

“Brent Seager and Osea Sadrau give us a very strong front row but adding another prop would be ideal.”