Shane Baker and Layne Baker played most of the season together for the first time in their careers, taking Stanhope from fifth place on the ladder and into a KDL reserve grade grand final.
Fairytale finishes are common place in sport and the meteoric rise of Stanhope reserves from fifth on the Kyabram District League ladder to a grand final - to the naked eye - could easily qualify as one of those.
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While there was no happy ending to the story for the team, coach Shane Baker wasn’t nearly as surprised as everyone else that his team had made it to the final match of the season.
And while the highly experienced Lions didn’t quite have the glass slipper finish they were looking for, Baker and his team certainly won plenty of fans along the way.
The 31-year-old landscaper was chiefly responsible for assembling a team that probably wouldn’t have been possible without his determined, and patient, approach to recruiting.
“I pestered a lot of players, Mason (Jarrod Mason) and Harro (Daryl Harrison) among them. I also understood that we had guys who worked for themselves and wouldn’t always be available,” he said.
Mason and Harrison now have 30 grand finals to their credit, with Mason having played in an extraordinary 17 (12 senior, two Under-18 and now three at reserve grade level).
Saturday’s grand final against Murchison-Toolamba was Baker’s third.
Shane Baker was working the magnets furiously at quarter time of Saturday's grand final against Murchison-Toolamba.
Baker moved back to Stanhope, from Geelong, in December 2022. He grew up in Stanhope, behind the football oval in fact, and now lives in the town with his partner and 11-year-old daughter.
Not far away is his younger brother Layne, an important part of the team’s climb into the grand final this season, while the third of the Baker siblings is no longer playing.
“Jack is the oldest, he is three years older then me and seven years older than Layne. He started at Stanhope, was runner-up in Girgarre’s senior best and fairest as a teenager, won a Tatura Under-18 best and fairest and played with Nightcliff in the NTFL,” Baker said.
Shane Baker first played football with Tatura, at Under-16 level, and several of his teammates from that season were in the Murchison-Toolamba ranks at both senior and reserve grade level on Saturday.
The Baker boys played several years in the Geelong District League, mainly at Bannockburn and Belmont, but Shane regularly returned to Stanhope to play with friends.
“I came back in 2014 when Jason Norman was coaching. Went through undefeated and got knocked out in straight sets. Then I got another phone call in 2018, this time from Mark Patten, and came back to play with some friends. We won the grand final that year and were undefeated,” he said
After the grand final win Baker started his own business and didn’t play nearly as much (COVID also helped that decision) until 2022.
He returned to play senior football at Stanhope after making a decision to get fit and commit to the senior team. Injury, however, cut short that return to top ranks.
Baker has been playing as an undersized, and highly physical, ruckman for most of his later years in the sport, working closely this season with his younger brother.
“We hadn't played together a hell of a lot until this year, he has played mostly senior footy,” he said.
“He basically dropped himself from the seniors and wasn't going to play for the rest of the year. I talked him into playing a game or two and he decided to play in the reserves.
“He has had a great year.”
As for the team’s grand final status, it was just a matter of getting everyone on the ground at the same time.
“We always knew what we had as a collective, it was just a matter of getting them together at the same time. A few blokes have their own businesses, Josh Canny was hard to nail down and having Maso back was handy,” Baker said.
“Before we played Lancaster I told the boys to forget the two times we had played them as only nine of them were playing in round one and the second time round only 12 were playing.”
He said Brad Canny and Charlie Lloyd (who didn’t start until round six) had been stand outs, along with his brother and Shannon Aynsley.
While the Lions missed the fairytale ending it was certainly a fun rise in the last month of football.
