On his arrival in Wigan two years ago, Barrett was afraid of the dark – well he was most reluctant to drive in the dark anyway – and one of the first revelations he made at the JJB Stadium was this: "It's only a few miles to my new home, but there are all these different routes and I always seem to take the wrong one.

"I know I'll get used to it eventually, but at the moment every journey is a real task. If it's dark I might as well forget it."

Popping camera flashes illumimated Barrett's path after he'd played his final game for Wigan at the weekend, but he no longer needs them.
Two years later, he's seen the light.

Wigan has been a home from home for a thoroughbred Australian a long way from his place of birth, so much so that when he arrrives back in Sydney, he's ready to spread the word.

The message is ... it's not grim up in the northern hemisphere after all.
Barrett said: "I'd spent 12 years at the (St George Illawarra) Dragons and I could have stayed at the club stayed for longer.

"But I wanted the change and I was nervous and excited by at the same time.
"I'd only ever been at the one club and so everything in England was going to be new for me, the country, the club, the competition.
"Money wasn't the most important factor because I'd been on good money back home.

"It was the chance to experience something different that stimulated me."
And the lure of Wigan's globetrotting reputation.

Barrett added: "Wigan was the most famous English club in Australia when I left, still is in fact as far as I'm concerned, and now that I've played for them I know why.

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