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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

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.

anchorman wrote:

Southerner wrote: 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

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.

anchorman wrote:

Southerner wrote: 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

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.

Agree ancho . it was a 2 way street the afl bit. Vics were bunkrupt but still took the cream of the wa footballers anyway