The Bear Essentials · Season 1, Episode 8
Dennis Baker: raising the bar
Tue 3 November 2026 · 15 min · with Dennis Baker
Former WA and Tasmania fast bowler Dennis Baker on bringing a professional training ethic to Bayswater Morley, the 1985-86 premiership, practical jokes and what he thinks of load management.
Host David Baird talks with former Western Australian and Tasmanian fast bowler Dennis Baker about a long sporting career. Dennis helped lift the club’s training standards and culture on the way to the 1985-86 premiership, and he compares the high-volume bowling of his era with today’s sports science and load management.
In this episode
- 0:03 Introducing Dennis Baker: WA, Tasmania, Bayswater Morley and football with Claremont
- 1:17 Joining for 1981-82 to help turn a struggling club around
- 2:10 Bringing the training ethic he learned alongside Dennis Lillee to grade cricket
- 3:04 Practical jokes, from a bag nailed to the WACA floor to dog shampoo in the showers
- 3:58 Competing for a WA spot, World Series Cricket, and Tasmania’s first Sheffield Shield season
- 6:48 The 1985-86 premiership and spinners Bret Mulder and Steve “Milo” Milosz
- 8:55 A fast bowling coach’s view of modern load management
- 11:42 A tribute to scorer Eddie Metherall
- 12:37 Football with Claremont, and choosing cricket
- 13:30 Change-room camaraderie and lifelong friendships
Quotes
“I just saw the club as being organised and ambitious out of the desire to become a force in a competition.”
“I wonder why they break down when they go out and bowl 15 overs in a match.”
“It’s all the friendships and the mateships and all those little things that make a sport such a great avenue.”