DOM Barry says he can’t wait to don the red and blue for the first time, when he makes his AFL debut against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Although Barry was initially named in the 25-man squad on Thursday night, he was later made an emergency. But when defender Tom McDonald was forced out of the 22 on Friday, due to a calf injury, Barry gained the call-up.

“I’ll be pretty excited. I’ll be pretty nervous, as I do before games, but I’ll try and keep that all under control and try and enjoy it,” Barry told Dee TV.

“I’m trying to get my Mum and Dad down [from Alice Springs] and we’ll see if my brother will come down from the APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Lands – it’s a long [way to] travel, but we’ll try and get him down here.”

Head of development Brett Allison said Barry had produced some strong recent form, including last round, as highlighted in his VFL player review report this week. 

“Dom played wing and had eight possessions. He had a negating run-with role on Sam Iles, who has been averaging around 30 possessions per week. Dom did a very, very good job. He was disciplined, stuck to his task and tried to run both ways. Dom also kept his opponent to little or no impact on the day. It was a good effort,” Allison said.

But Barry was humble about his performance against Box Hill at Casey Fields last Saturday.   

“Offensively [I] wasn’t super last week, but defensively, I just played my role and did what I had to do for the team,” he said.

“That’s how I got noticed and that’s what put me into this position. I [was] happy with the result last week and [I’m] looking forward to going out there this week and trying it out.”

Barry said he had relished his time developing with the Demons so far.   

“The journey hasn’t been too bad. I’ve been learning off a lot of the experienced players around here,” he said.

“I knew coming into the system, I’d have to bide my time a little bit and get bigger.

“Once I did that – and it’s still a work in progress – but to get the opportunity now, I couldn’t be happier.”

Barry said his teammates had also celebrated the news with him.

“A few of them were pretty stoked with the news, so I’ll just go out there and enjoy playing with them,” he said.

With Barry set to play his first game, this leaves Jesse Hogan and Jayden Hunt, plus rookies James Harmes and Max King as the only 2014 listed players yet to debut for the Demons.