Barker-Daish will play for NPL Victoria side South Melbourne FC against Palm Beach Sharks in an FFA Cup round of 32 match at Cbus Stadium tonight.
Barker-Daish has returned to Australia after he suffered a serious knee injury while trialling in England.
The 22-year-old had headed overseas after Adelaide chose not to renew his contract at the end of what was an injury-interrupted 2013-14 season for him.
"I was trialling at Oldham Athletic when I hurt my knee," Barker-Daish told The World Game. "I got caught really awkwardly in a challenge. I didn't think it was that serious at first, but it ended up a four-to-five-month injury.
"I was over in the UK in October-November. I trialled for Reading, Hibernian in Scotland and Oldham and from what I was told by the manager at Oldham and my agent at the time I was pretty close to getting a deal there, so it was pretty bad timing with the injury."
Barker-Daish did play a couple of games while he was in England - for Colne FC, in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League.
"I was training every morning by myself, waiting to get a trial, and it got to the point where my uncle, who lives over there, suggested I join up with a team just to get on the field and have a kick," he said.
"I did that at Colne for a week or two before I realised it was probably going to do more damage than good. It was a bit of a pub league where anything goes."
After returning to Australia and recovering from the knee injury, Barker-Daish joined South Melbourne and signed up for a business course at university.
"I've been at the club since March," he said. "South Melbourne has been really impressive with everything they've done for me and part of the reason I went there was because I knew in terms of professionalism it was as close as I'd get to an A-League club.
"I've played about 15 games for the club now, including the cup games. I've had no injury problems, so hopefully things have changed for the better in that regard. The rehab process over three or four months with my knee made my body a lot stronger.
"When I got over the knee problem I thought I needed to go somewhere and play week in week out. I'd fallen out of love with the game a little bit with all the injuries and the hurdles I was hitting and I thought it was a good idea to go back to the basics and play regular football.
Barker-Daish said the FFA Cup clash gave him a valuable chance to show what he can do.
"In the last few years not many players have been picked up from the NPL league by the A-League, but I think with the FFA Cup growing fast and creating a lot of interest you never know what might happen.
"Our game is being televised live, so it's a great opportunity for myself and the rest of the boys at South Melbourne to do well and hopefully get to the next round.
"I'd love to get back into the A-League and hopefully the fact I'm still young will stand me in good stead for that. The FFA Cup is a real opportunity for me.”
Tonight's FFA Cup Round of 32 matches:
Blacktown City v Metrostars SC
Broadmeadows Magic v Heidelberg United
Hume City FC v Brisbane Strikers
Palm Beach Sharks v South Melbourne
