George Bennett backs Connor Barrett & Jamie Jellis to comeback stronger at Walsall next season

Transcript

00:00Hi everyone, just a small sample really of my comment piece on Connor Barrett and Jamie Jealous

00:08and hopefully the role that they will be able to play for Walsall next season.

00:13So, you know, both picked up from non-league, Connor Barrett signed last summer from AFC

00:20filed in the National League and slightly different, but Jamie Jealous arriving from

00:25non-league Tamworth in January of 2024. His initial months were marred by a hamstring injury

00:34and, you know, just bedding his way really into the Football League, but he returned to pre-season

00:41at the start of the previous campaign, like a steam train, and I remember Jack Earing describing him

00:47as a beast, scored an incredible goal against his former club in a 3-2 win at Tamworth.

00:53And then, of course, there was Connor Barrett, who just adjusted so seamlessly to life in League 2,

01:02hit double figures for assists, and Jamie Jealous obviously struck seven goals in total across all competitions.

01:11So, overall, it was a positive campaign for both of them.

01:15However, their form did drop off during Walsall's sort of mid-season slump.

01:22Connor Barrett registered eight of his ten assists before the turn of the year,

01:28and Jamie Jealous netted just once from February onwards, and that was in a 2-0 win on the 22nd of February

01:35against Morecambe.

01:37And, yeah, the piece really just talks about the fact that, you know, there's a lot for them to be proud of,

01:43a lot for them to build on in what was, you know, their first full season in the Football League,

01:50and, you know, it's hardly surprising, really, that that sort of fatigue kicked in.

01:56And, you know, there's another argument over whether Matt Sadler should have managed their minutes better

02:02and maybe sort of rotated before, you know, the inevitable occurred.

02:08But, you know, it's a conversation for another day.

02:12And, you know, on the sort of topic itself,

02:16the challenges that both of them went through should really equip them with the tools

02:24to deal with the trials and tribulations of next season.

02:29And I also talked about the fact that, you know, they would struggle really now

02:33to go through their careers and experience such extreme highs and lows

02:39bottled into a single campaign.

02:42So I feel that, you know, both of them will come back stronger

02:46and will be key players for Walsall next season.

02:50And I'm intrigued to see sort of how they recover, in particular Conor Barrett,

02:54because it was a difficult end to the season for him.

02:58You know, a key player in the first half of the campaign, as I've mentioned.

03:01And it just, I don't know, it just seemed to lose his swagger a little bit

03:06and had some tough competition from Nathan Asimwe.

03:10Obviously got a two-match suspension around the March period.

03:14And then in that penultimate game, six minutes just after he came off the bench,

03:21got a straight red card against Accrington, and that forced him to miss the final game.

03:25And then, of course, the two-legged semifinal in the playoffs against Chesterfield.

03:30And that, obviously, then cost him his place in starting XI, really, at Wembley

03:35and played just 16 minutes from the bench in that 1-0 defeat against Wimbledon.

03:39So, yeah, I feel, as I've said, I feel both of them will come back stronger next season.

03:44And really, that's kind of, yeah, the main gist of the piece.