One of the VFL's pin-up boys with his teen-idol appearance, blonde hair and suntanned skin, "Barks" was one of the finest high-marking players of his era; and, although of slight build, his skill and athleticism were matched by raw courage and competitiveness.

After playing just one game in the reserves, Barker was selected on the half-forward flank for his senior debut in the Round 2 match against Hawthorn at Moorabbin Oval, wearing the number 25.

After an even first quarter, in which St Kilda captain Barry Lawrence kicked four goals, Hawthorn took control and eventually won comfortably by 40 points.

Averaging 12 disposals a game, he relentlessly placed himself in position to challenge his opponents, his courage rewarded with 49 free kicks by the field umpires during the season, conceding just 13 for the year.

The team rebounded to win four of the next five games to sit just outside the top five, separated from fifth-placed Geelong by only two premiership points courtesy of their draw against Richmond in Round 3.

In Round 22, the Saints hosted Carlton at Moorabbin, the standings suggesting St Kilda needed a win and Fitzroy to defeat Geelong to play Finals.

The Saints put in one of their finest displays in recent seasons, thoroughly outplaying the Blues in front of a packed Moorabbin crowd to win by 40 points.

With external financial pressures beginning to mount on St Kilda Football Club in the early 1980s, Barker was again a standout leader at the Saints in 1981.

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-field leadership becoming more important to St Kilda FC as severe financial hardship began to have its effect on the organisation as a whole.

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.

During this period of mooted expansion, with some public plans for new teams interstate revealed, Barker worked to attempt to help negotiate St Kilda FC out of its debts, to try to get a fresh financial start for the club.

In the end, some creditors took as little as 10 cents in the dollar in exchange for agreeing to write off St Kilda FC's debts to them, so the Saints could continue in the competition.

Current and former players of the time who were owed money for their unpaid playing contracts agreed to a final settlement of 10 cents in the dollar, which was brokered in part by Barker himself.

By the time the league administration announced the entry of the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears into the competition for the start of the 1987 Premiership Season, for a license fee of 6 million dollars each, St Kilda FC was almost totally debt free thanks to the generosity of its creditors.

St Kilda was attempting a fresh start with massively reduced debts compared to the previous decade, no player or coaching staff wages owing, and looking forward to competing in an expanded competition that was undergoing restructuring which resulted in a permanent national draft and salary cap.

Barker was restricted to 14 games during St Kilda FC's top 5 competitive 1987 VFL season, which finished at an underwhelming 10th place on the official standings.

St Kilda won 5 consecutive games in Rounds 15 to 19, the last with a caretaker Coach as Darrell Baldock had been admitted to hospital with the diagnosis being a stroke.

His broad range of experiences inside St Kilda FC help him instil a selfless approach in the Sandringham Zebras playing group.

In 1995, he returned to the Saints as an assistant coach to Stan Alves, taking charge of the reserves team and mentoring many young St Kilda FC players who went on to play in the 1996 Ansett Australia Cup premiership.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, who played under Barker for St Kilda's reserve team, had nothing but praise for his boyhood idol: "Looking at him on the ground it was almost like seeing a polar bear in the Sahara, or a lion in the Arctic – he just stood out.