Baker

[terry smith rules]

Hello to all those who were calling for his head last week, as if ...........

There he was just like the old days, tough , hard, head bandage, niggling, bouncing everything we love about him.

And what was even better he towelled uo Betts.

He is in our top 22.

If (when) we make the grand final this year, almost first picked as he will be leading the charge at Chapman et al

fqf

[reincarnated]

Hello to all those who were calling for his head last week, as if ...........

There he was just like the old days, tough , hard, head bandage, niggling, bouncing everything we love about him.

And what was even better he towelled uo Betts.

He is in our top 22.

If (when) we make the grand final this year, almost first picked as he will be leading the charge at Chapman et al

fqf

It would turn on the old reincarnate to see Baker go up to Chapman in the gf (if both teams made) and begun the working over

[plugger66]

Hello to all those who were calling for his head last week, as if ...........

There he was just like the old days, tough , hard, head bandage, niggling, bouncing everything we love about him.

And what was even better he towelled uo Betts.

He is in our top 22.

If (when) we make the grand final this year, almost first picked as he will be leading the charge at Chapman et al

fqf

Thought Bakes did ok but he didnt get near towelling up Betts.

[maverick]

Would have to agree with Plugger, thought Bakes was OK, but always felt Betts was dangerous and certainly not towelled up for mine.

I watched Bakes closely, as much as I love the way he plays he needs to do better in the air, and needs to polish up the decision making a little.

Made another clanger after a good mark, which was covered up by the ump paying a holding free on Fisher.

If Dempster finds full fitness it might be a race among two for the small defensive post.

[saintsRrising]

And what was even better he towelled uo Betts.

No.

Betts was very damaging for the Blues.

Bakes made several bad decisions.

His form was ok-ish...but hardly good.

[saintsRrising]

almost first picked

No where near it.

[RodKeoghsLoveChild]

Hello to all those who were calling for his head last week, as if ...........

There he was just like the old days, tough , hard, head bandage, niggling, bouncing everything we love about him.

And what was even better he towelled uo Betts.

He is in our top 22.

If (when) we make the grand final this year, almost first picked as he will be leading the charge at Chapman et al

fqf

I think your dreaming buddy. We all love Bakes and the way he goes about it, but you must have your Baker coloured glasses on mate. Baker was ordinary and has been lucky to hold his place.

[Quixote]

Baker is an essential part of our team, make no mistake. Much of what he does cannot be accounted for by stats alone.

[saintly_safes]

Thought Bakes was pretty good on Friday night.I dont think Betts was as dangerous as he has been so far this year even though he kicked a couple. I thought he did his job & imo will keep his spot.

[Moods]

Betts has been out of form actually. That's what my supercoach scores are telling me anyway. Bakes was serviceable, but Betts got away a few times and kicked a couple of vital goals. I'm still happy to have Bakes in the team though. If we're going to nit pick about disposal/decision making, then Lenny made a couple of howlers that resulted in turnovers. I would never questions Lenny's spot in the team though, which I'm sure most on here wouldn't either.

[maverick]

Betts has been out of form actually. That's what my supercoach scores are telling me anyway. Bakes was serviceable, but Betts got away a few times and kicked a couple of vital goals. I'm still happy to have Bakes in the team though. If we're going to nit pick about disposal/decision making, then Lenny made a couple of howlers that resulted in turnovers. I would never questions Lenny's spot in the team though, which I'm sure most on here wouldn't either.

Yeah but Lenny gets it 30 times, not 15, and these decisions are being made when the footy is won, not in traffic.

No ones potting Bakes here, haven't read anyone that wants him dropped, or have said he wasn't OK Friday night.

[ausfatcat]

On the fence about Baker at the moment, he is in poor form but dunno if it warrants being dropped, to me it just seemed he was in self preservation mode this week, to afraid to leave his man to go after the ball or put a shepard or tackle on someone else.

[barks4eva]

Hello to all those who were calling for his head last week, as if ...........

There he was just like the old days, tough , hard, head bandage, niggling, bouncing everything we love about him.

And what was even better he towelled uo Betts.

He is in our top 22.

If (when) we make the grand final this year, almost first picked as he will be leading the charge at Chapman et al

fqf

I thought it was more of a case of I REST MY CASE after his game on friday night!


Baker is too slow, his reaction times are way below where he was at two years ago, he cost us on a number of occasions and IMO he is a liability at present and should not be in the 22!

[Superboot]

Bakes was better this week, but only better when we didn't have the ball. His forte is the desperate defensive lunge to stop his opponent marking. He did some terrific things in that regard.

But when in possession, he's hesitant tends to go inboard to a team mate under pressure, and is bordering on being a liability.

[BakesFan]

Never write off a champion.... Bakes is slowly getting back into form; and we can only hope he'll be back to is best come Finals.

I'll trust RL's judgement when it comes to Baker; not the armchair experts on here.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Baker was okay but certainly didn't towel up anyone. Betts showed him up a couple of times for groundball pickups. Baker will beat most smalls in the air and is ferocious if they're holding the ball, but given the rest of the backline, Baker needs to do a better job of winning it when the ball hits the deck to regain the level of faith one used to have in him.

[fingers]

Love Baker - but it may be passed him. I would rather see Gwilt in.

[SaintWodonga]

will be out when Dempster is back ...

[TassieJones]

yep lets drop Bakes and play a backline consisting entirely of 190+ cm giants, top idea

he didn't towel up Betts like the Baker of old might, but apart from when he was off the ground he kept him very ineffective. If we dropped him next week who would play on Nahas? The speedy midget would cut up our taller backs in a ground ball situation.

Last thing we need is another Gilbert-Williams type height mismatch like in the prelim last year.

Not to mention the amount of leadership, experience and inspiration he brings to the side which will be invaluable come finals. I mean really if it comes down to it, 30 seconds left in a final saints up by 5, ball bombed inside 50, who would you count on to guard the small forward, Bakes or Dempster/Geary/whoever?

must play every game imo

[St Chris]

Love Baker - but it may be passed him. I would rather see Gwilt in.

C'mon now, no need to be silly about it......

[terry smith rules]

maybe in my original OP the use of "towelling" was a little OTT. Never the less, last week alot of posters were worried about who would stand Betts , the danger man.

given the game how the was played Betts was always going to get some chances.

what I liked was the way Baker put his body to use to intimidate and buffet Betts. There were times when to me Betts was put out of the contest beautifully by Bakes.

I am not sure what people are expecting from Baker. Bakes has never been the great link man/ play maker etc. even at his best his forte was dinky little 25 metre kicks. In two years he has only played a handful of games and is still finding rhythm.

I have said it before on here, when you are playing pressure games you need players like Baker who play using their bodies. Not many grand finals are won by the quick little forwards, the small body players tend to fall off in the big games.

[thirty-seven!?]

I didnt think Bakes was too bad on Friday - he crashed some packs and fought for the hard ball - he is a very different player to most other small defenders - he is very strong in-and-under, which is a skill lacking from most of the small forwards he plays on! This means that once it hits the deck, he should be favorite to pull it out.

He's definately not first picked, but he is doing his role, and does not deserve to be dropped!

Worth noting too is the fact that one of the two goals kicked by his opponent on Friday was straight after he went off with the blood rule! Shows the job he is doing!

We also know how well Baker plays as a "mental" defender too - getting inside his opponent's heads and making them snap!

[bergsone]

IMO Baker will keep his spot for a while yet,if Dempster is to come in surely he will need game time at Sandy 3-4 games? better still if Bakes finds form reckon it will be a tallish back Blake or Zac ?to make way

[Con Gorozidis]

I dont like to get ahead of ourselves because people give me the one week at a time stuff. But this is a footy forum so im going to get ahead of myself.

I was one who questioned Bakes. ( I didnt actually question him per se - I just wondered who the hell else was going to make way for Max given our form).

Anyway - we need to look at the cats - who have a very small/mobile forward line. Chappy, stevie j, varcoe plus others.

So with gwilt, gilbo, max, zac attack & blake - we can look a bit top heavy down back and the cats might be a little on the mobile side.

so for me bakes and seany d (form and fitness pending) need to be kept as serious options in the 18.

this means blakey and gwilt might have to be scarificed for team balance.

(although on current form geary is looking a little weary and might need a rest)

[BAM! (shhhh)]

IMO Baker will keep his spot for a while yet,if Dempster is to come in surely he will need game time at Sandy 3-4 games? better still if Bakes finds form reckon it will be a tallish back Blake or Zac ?to make way

On one hand, if we were going to bring in more ground level support for the back line, I'd be expecting Geary rather than Baker to get the chop. Perhaps for Eddy or Gwilt?

On the other hand, as a young player, the week off may be exactly what Geary needs to return to form, Baker's returning from a long layoff, and persisting with Baker and Gilbert as the ground level winners may still pay off... it's not like we're in dire straights.