Post BF Upgrade Feedback - Click Here

Remove this Banner Ad

Retired Leon Baker

  • Thread starter Thread starter nut
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users Tagged users None

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

There's a young talented footballer called Liam Baker - was hoping it may have been son of but not to be. Another L Baker would be nice in dons colours!
 
Schopp said:
A guy who managed a site i was working on the other day that played wafl and at Port Douglas is mates with Leon - my excitement levels got a bit out of hand but information about this great man still elusive. Reckons Leon played bugger all footy after vfl (I thought he played in some country leagues for a few years). Baker watches Port Douglas games but occasionally gives advise from the sidelines but doesn't do any coaching. Like many have said on here he says Leon is quite private but very humble and a top guy. Has daughters but no sons ( was hoping for a f/s clone). This bloke also chatted with Sheeds who admitted Leon was his personal favorite Essendon player of all and best decision made during his era confirming the obvious man crush spoken about by Simon Madden. Anyhow I told this bloke also a mad Bombers fan to get Leon into writing "The Accidental Footballer" and that I would buy 10 copies.
Click to expand...
I believe he coached the mighty Maffra Eagles in the LVFL in the early 90s. Think he was at the helm for a then rare GF appearance in '89.

Merv Neagle was with arch-nemesis Sale Magpies. I think Neil Clarke may have been too, but i'm unsure on that.
 
I wonder how it would have panned out for Leon Baker in the present day. Draft camps, academies, production line footballers. Taking time to travel wouldn't be an option obviously.

Scary that the system these days would deny some of the great players of the past who go through a different route or have a different temperament.
 
Run and carry said:
I wonder how it would have panned out for Leon Baker in the present day. Draft camps, academies, production line footballers. Taking time to travel wouldn't be an option obviously.

Scary that the system these days would deny some of the great players of the past who go through a different route or have a different temperament.
Click to expand...

Leon would have tested badly at the camp... he wasn't quick at all. This was masked by an amazing footy brain, and lightning reflexes. There was some talk (by a champion player of the 70's & 80's) that he was a junior Davis Cup level tennis player, but I've never had it confirmed.

I also heard that he went down to Melbourne FC as a kid, but went home not long after. Lucky for us.
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

He would not have even bothered entering the draft if he was a kid today. He wasn't interested in the cash or fame, just the footy and his mates. Hell the day after the 84 Gf (correct me if I'm wrong) he and the wife buggered off overseas. Wasn't interested in all the other stuff.
 
Runknisse said:
He would not have even bothered entering the draft if he was a kid today. He wasn't interested in the cash or fame, just the footy and his mates. Hell the day after the 84 Gf (correct me if I'm wrong) he and the wife buggered off overseas. Wasn't interested in all the other stuff.
Click to expand...
'85.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

fairbump_playon said:
Was my first ever favourite player
Click to expand...
My first love too. One of the things I noticed with him is he seemed to get teams going and kicking avalanches of goals in no time. 84 prelim 1st qtr, GF next week in the fourth. A couple of old Swan Districts games that have disappeared of YouTube they went on 10 goal to nil quarters and he was the main one kicking them - no one could do anything wrong. Very special player.
 
windyhill said:
Wife’s name ? Spider. Tough , took a lot of punishment, classy. Two flags with Swan Districts then two with us. So good.
Click to expand...
Yes they calI her Spider and was even on their wedding invites but I think her real name is Suzanne. In an EFC book I read Glenn Hawker said the girls loved Leon but he was oblivious to that and his talents - how good looking he was and how talented at football. Hawker then went on to say however that Spider was very aware of these things and kept a close eye on him at the social club.
 
Thought it better to respond here to astrowizzle on Leon Baker being critical of Sheeds, mentioned in the Sam Draper thread:

In one podcast he said it was John Todd that got the best out of him but somewhere in the following interview he said Sheedy was too intense and overtrained the guys and it was almost an ego thing with the crowds "ooohs and ahhhs" at collisions during training on Thursday nights that dragged out.

Just wonder in 86 when we had a number of injuries to guns was it guys getting overloaded and their bodies breaking down.

 
Nicholas61 said:
Thought it better to respond here to astrowizzle on Leon Baker being critical of Sheeds, mentioned in the Sam Draper thread:

In one podcast he said it was John Todd that got the best out of him but somewhere in the following interview he said Sheedy was too intense and overtrained the guys and it was almost an ego thing with the crowds "ooohs and ahhhs" at collisions during training on Thursday nights that dragged out.

Just wonder in 86 when we had a number of injuries to guns was it guys getting overloaded and their bodies breaking down.

Click to expand...


I wouldn’t say so. Vander, Daisy & Timmy’s injuries were all in game impact types that happened early on in season. We lost Merv to the Swans & shipped club fabric players like Bradbury & Carey to other clubs for soulless blokes like Richardson & Raines which Sheedy has acknowledged he regrets.

Sum of those parts caused a big imbalance & we suffered. That being said Sheedy may have got a little big for his own boots after our b2b with is training methods, day to day management.
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Saw this thread bumped. Toddy might have embellished a story or two, but one of my favourites goes to Leon's famous aversion to training. Baker literally walked up to a pre-season session at Bassendean Oval (1981?) as a mature ager and asked Toddy if he could have a kick (this was a developing squad that had played in the WAFL GF the year before). A bemused Todd asked whether he had been doing any training, to which Baker replied, "nah, not really but I've been carrying a few bricks".
 
Last edited:
Nicholas61 said:
Thought it better to respond here to astrowizzle on Leon Baker being critical of Sheeds, mentioned in the Sam Draper thread:

In one podcast he said it was John Todd that got the best out of him but somewhere in the following interview he said Sheedy was too intense and overtrained the guys and it was almost an ego thing with the crowds "ooohs and ahhhs" at collisions during training on Thursday nights that dragged out.

Just wonder in 86 when we had a number of injuries to guns was it guys getting overloaded and their bodies breaking down.

Click to expand...

Never knew that. Appreciate it
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top Bottom