Saw a really interesting interview with a very interesting & casual bloke by the name of Leon Baker last night on Fox. Mike Sheehan’s Open Mike show has some real characters on it. It sure was great listening to Baker and his totally casual way he approached football. If you get a chance have a look at it. I am sure Foxtel are replaying the interview all week.
Really enjoyed seeing Bakes interviewed last night Jars. A few highlights of his WAFL days wouldnt have gone astray tho as I could have reminisced back to the days when we could hit a target by both hand and foot!
BH, out of interest… if you could only pick one… who would it be Mike Smith or Leon Baker to fill that last spot on your footy team?..Smith for me…why…because I was best man at his sisters wedding back in the 90’s and he was a great fella to have a drink with!
The interview was much as expected: to call the time taken up talking about his WAFL career as superficial and cursory would be an overstatement. Disappointing that more time was taken up talking about his time at Swan Districts.
Interestingly Bakes himself put Sheahan in his box by saying he was already playing top quality level footy in WA before moving to Essendon!
Yeah that era of our WANFL footy was why the Viccos raided the State for players to prop up their failing standard 'Beas … and then later letting those wankers the eagles enter
Still remember Leon’s first years & I think one of the best ones he played was the infamous Boucher v Moss slug fest game
Southerner, I think you will find that Baker was from Victoria any way. So we really can’t claim him as a West Aussie.
Not one contributor to this thread claims Leon as a West Australian - several have mentioned his Swan Districts heritage & skill
Might be better to pay attention to what is posted before you stick your AFL browned beak into threads
Shit I thought Leon Baker came from Bunbury to Swans and then Essendon. Old age is setting in.
You said the Viccos raided the state. He was a Victorian to start with. Yep he was playing for Swans, but we can’t claim him.
And let’s not forget that at that time as well, our football was in bad need of a prop up.
The competition was close to being screwed before those wanker Eagles came in.
Absolutely arrant nonsense a/man. The 1979 GF and 1980 GF crowd were upwards of 52,000. No-one, absolutely no-one said Baker was a West Australian. What we said was that we would have liked more acknowledgement of his time in the WAFL. Some of the best ever WAFL teams were in the 1980s. For example, what sort of centreline was K Narkle, L Baker and P Narkle?
How about the record crowd of 22,000 at Basso for a match SD vs WP in the early 1980s. The VFL came looking for a bailout from WA footy not the other way around.
Agree ancho :woohoo: . it was a 2 way street the afl bit. Vics were bunkrupt but still took the cream of the wa footballers anyway
Swan it is easy to select that era, but lets remember that the Vics were raping the WAFL and SANFL and also the Tassie leagues way before that.
Go back and look.
I just got the feel that the way Southerner worded his thing about Baker he was claiming him as a Sandgroper.
Our football was in trouble when the Eagles came into the VFL.
Check the official history.
The viccos have raided the WANFL & continue to do so regardless of why the so-called “State side in the VFL” was set up - and our comp is totally screwed especially since both AFL wankers came about
Now where did I or anyone for that matter state that Leon was a Western Australian by birth
Seriously A/man are you suggesting that if one accepts your assertion to be correct that the solution for WA footy was to pay $4,000,000.00 up front; lose significantly more players to the VFL and to cut the attendances of WAFL games by more than 50%. How was that going to help WA footy?
What you are trying to do is to rationalise your incorrect assertions vis a vis Southerner’s comments.
So in the context of talking about Leon baker’s WAFL experiences you shouldn’t cite examples from that era!!!
Really enjoyed seeing Bakes interviewed last night Jars. A few highlights of his WAFL days wouldnt have gone astray tho as I could have reminisced back to the days when we could hit a target by both hand and foot!
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I got lots of footage I will share with you one day mate over a few beers!
I haven’t got Fox and know if I saw it that it would make me fume as it would be Victorian centric, I couldn’t give a rats arse about his Essendon days to be honest! I hate Essendon, always have and always will that started in 84/85 after beating the mighty Hawks
I got lots of footage I will share with you one day mate over a few beers!
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Look forward to it mate ..we will have to invite freeze to watch that 84 GF 1st qtr replay too!! 
I got lots of footage I will share with you one day mate over a few beers!
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Look forward to it mate ..we will have to invite freeze to watch that 84 GF 1st qtr replay too!!
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BH Don’t forget the 4th quarter as well.
I got lots of footage I will share with you one day mate over a few beers!
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Look forward to it mate ..we will have to invite freeze to watch that 84 GF 1st qtr replay too!!
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I’m in if that troll turns up :cheer: