Latest news with #LiamBaker
Perth Now
03-06-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Hands Oval: What you need to know about AFL's newest venue
Hands Oval is in South Bunbury, a five-minute drive from Bunbury's city centre, and a two-hour drive south from the Perth CBD. The home of South West Football League powerhouse South Bunbury FC, it's about a half-hour drive north of Busselton Margaret River Airport, which is where North Melbourne will fly into on Friday ahead of Sunday afternoon's clash. Hands Oval's recently-completed upgrades were planned to increase capacity for the game to 15,000 people, though Sunday's crowd may be slightly lower. Around half the crowd will have access to seating, with six temporary grandstands in place alongside the newly-completed 750-seat grandstand building. Liam Baker in action in March's pre-season game at Hands Oval. Credit: James Worsfold / Getty Images No. The first batch of general admission tickets were released in March and sold out inside half an hour, with some later smaller releases going just as quickly. Yes. There's been a total of 784 AFL/VFL games in WA, spread across three venues: 545 at Subiaco Oval, 167 at Optus Stadium, and 72 at the WACA Ground. This will be the first regional match for premiership points. Federal member for Forrest Nola Marino, City of Bunbury mayor Jaysen Miguel, SWFL president Barry Tate, Member for Bunbury Don Punch and SWFL general manager Jason Crowe take in the Hands Oval refurbishment earlier this year. Credit: Amber Lilley/South Western Times / South Western Times Hands Oval is named after former Bunbury mayor J E Hands, who had two stints in charge of the city between 1928-1933 and 1937-1938. Hands Oval is ready for its moment in the national spotlight. Credit: Amber Lilley/South Western Times / RegionalHUB Hands Oval has hosted six AFL pre-season games — four involving Fremantle and two featuring West Coast — as well as six WAFL games, an International Rules practice game and a Perth Glory pre-season fixure in 2009. When the cricket pitch was in place, it staged three domestic One Day Cup games between 2009 and 2011, the first of which saw Mitch Marsh become the State's youngest ever player. Matthew Pavlich and Chris Judd matched up on each other in a pre-season game between Fremantle and Carlton in 2009. Credit: Mal Fairclough / WA News The typical south-west wind favours the north-east or city end of the ground, which will be left-of-screen when watching Sunday's broadcast. That end produced 15 of the game's 20 goals - and 29 of 40 scoring shots - in the pre-season match between West Coast and North Melbourne in March. The Hands Memorial Oval redevelopment features new dug-outs. Credit: Amber Lilley/South Western Times / RegionalHUB Hands Oval will be the 52nd venue to stage an AFL/VFL game, and the 36th in the AFL era (since 1990). Bunbury will replace Subiaco Oval as the western-most location for a game, with China's Jiangwan Stadium the northern-most, New Zealand's Wellington Regional Stadium the eastern-most, and Hobart's Ninja Stadium the furthest south.
West Australian
26-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
West Coast Eagles recruit Liam Baker learns fate for ramming James Peatling's head into the turf
West Coast recruit Liam Baker has escaped a ban for an ugly forearm to the back of Adelaide midfielder James Peatling's head on Sunday. Instead, the defender has been fined $3125 for ramming Peatling's head into the Adelaide Oval grass by leaning down on him with his forearm. The ugly incident caused an aggressive melee in the dying stages of the blowout 66-point loss, with multiple Crows remonstrating with the former Tiger. The MRO had the option to charge Baker with serious misconduct and refer him to the tribunal but settled on a financial sanction. Essendon legend James Hird had a sterner take ahead of the verdict being handed down, labelling the Eagle's action worse than pinning the arms in a tackle. 'That's the sort of thing that if you get three weeks for bumping ... or tackling someone and pulling them down and mistiming, that (the Baker incident) is a deliberate act,' he told Nine . 'That to me is worse than a tackle where you pull them behind and hit someone because it's a deliberate act to try to, not so much hurt someone, but to influence someone. In a tackle, you make a mistake.' Seven players were charged with engaging in the melee with three Crows and four Eagles including Elijah Hewett, Bailey Williams and Jack Hutchinson fined a minimum of $1000. It's the third time Williams has been handed a sanction for melees. Baker joined the Eagles via trade from Richmond, where he won back-to-back premierships in 2019 and 2020, for pick 14 and has become a key player. A suspension would have stretched the Eagles' starting 22 to the limits with the club already without All-Australian defender Jeremy McGovern, who is set to face a concussion panel, star forward Jake Waterman, who dislocated his shoulder against the Crows, Jamie Cripps with a four-week knee injury, Elliot Yeo who is out indefinitely and Dom Sheed will miss the season with an ACL.
Perth Now
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Eagles defender learns fate for ugly Peatling incident
West Coast recruit Liam Baker has escaped a ban for an ugly forearm to the back of Adelaide midfielder James Peatling's head on Sunday. Instead, the defender has been fined $3125 for ramming Peatling's head into the Adelaide Oval grass by leaning down on him with his forearm. The ugly incident caused an aggressive melee in the dying stages of the blowout 66-point loss, with multiple Crows remonstrating with the former Tiger. The MRO had the option to charge Baker with serious misconduct and refer him to the tribunal but settled on a financial sanction. Essendon legend James Hird had a sterner take ahead of the verdict being handed down, labelling the Eagle's action worse than pinning the arms in a tackle. 'That's the sort of thing that if you get three weeks for bumping ... or tackling someone and pulling them down and mistiming, that (the Baker incident) is a deliberate act,' he told Nine . 'That to me is worse than a tackle where you pull them behind and hit someone because it's a deliberate act to try to, not so much hurt someone, but to influence someone. In a tackle, you make a mistake.' Seven players were charged with engaging in the melee with three Crows and four Eagles including Elijah Hewett, Bailey Williams and Jack Hutchinson fined a minimum of $1000. Baker joined the Eagles via trade from Richmond, where he won back-to-back premierships in 2019 and 2020, for pick 14 and has become a key player. A suspension would have stretched the Eagles' starting 22 to the limits with the club already without All-Australian defender Jeremy McGovern, who is set to face a concussion panel, star forward Jake Waterman, who dislocated his shoulder against the Crows, Jamie Cripps with a four-week knee injury, Elliot Yeo who is out indefinitely and Dom Sheed will miss the season with an ACL.
News.com.au
26-05-2025
- News.com.au
Baker elbow could see suspension
AFL: While Liam Baker could cop a fine for general misconduct, the Herald Sun reported the MRO had the option to charge the ex-Tiger with serious misconduct and refer him to the tribunal, where he could be suspended.
West Australian
20-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
West Coast will don the state colours for their WA Day clash in their latest jumper design
West Coast have laid claim to the state colours after unveiling their bold new guernsey for their WA Day round clash. The Eagles will be wearing the striking new design for their match against Geelong at Optus Stadium on June 1 in celebration of the state's WA Day the next day. The jumper features the traditional black and gold state colours with rays of sunlight stretching across the jumper with Liam Baker and Jake Waterman on hand to show off the new threads. It comes as the Black Swans ended a seven year win drought in their clash against the Croweaters on Saturday. It will be the first time the Eagles have worn the state colours since their 2007 heritage round jumper, which came under criticism from former Fremantle skipper Ben Allan, saying non-WA-born players wearing the colours failed to recognise the legacy of state legends. The new range is on sale now exclusively for members and will open up to the wider public from Wednesday 7pm.
