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“I did not retire!”: Cult-hero Saint reflects on strange end to AFL career
Lachlan Geleit • March 2nd, 2025 2:32 pm
Former St Kilda hardman Steven Baker had an unusual end to his AFL career.
After 203 games from 1999 to 2011, it was in that final season that Baker was told by Saints coach Ross Lyon that it would be his last year at Moorabbin.
When he was given the bad news by Lyon mid-season, Baker entered the meeting with the coach expecting a pat on the back … instead, he had the rug pulled out from under him.
“I actually thought I was going to get a pat on the back, I hadn’t been beaten that season,” Baker told This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.
“But he told me they weren’t going to go with me next year. I actually laughed the first time he said it, but he changed his expression from being straightforward, so I knew he was serious.
“I was totally shocked, I thought I had at least another year in me, and I didn’t know it at the time, but I was coming second in the best and fairest.
“I felt a little bit that the rug was pulled out from under my feet.”
Knowing it was his last year at the Saints, the then 31-year-old spoke to GWS about going on for another year, but that wasn’t to be.
But perhaps the strangest aspect of his departure from league footy was when Lyon announced to the media after St Kilda crashed out of the 2011 finals series that Baker was retiring.
There was only one key problem with that, Baker didn’t make that decision himself, with the tagger taking to Twitter where he stated: "Thanks for all of the messages of support. I would also like to make it clear that I did not retire”.
“GWS were coming in the next year, and I was talking about a backline player and a coach because I wanted to go on if they (St Kilda) were giving me the arse,” Baker said.
“But then Ross said at the end of the year, ‘Stevie Baker has decided to retire from football’, but I hadn’t … so I went to Twitter and said that … but I was telling the truth, I was just being honest.
“Ross was trying to do the nice thing. I have nothing but respect for Ross and there are no hard feelings.
“There’s no grudge against him or the Saints … I thought I had one year in me at the Saints and I was hoping to call it myself … but it was probably fair enough.”
Listen to Baker’s full chat with Sam Edmund below.
