Former St Kilda tagger Steven Baker cops life ban from football Former St Kilda hard man Steven Baker has been banned from playing football for life. Former St Kilda hard man Steven Baker. FORMER St Kilda hard man Steven Baker has been banned from playing football for life. Baker was last night found guilty of unduly rough conduct by the Mornington Peninsula Football League after just one practice match with new club Sorrento. Baker, who played 203 games for the Saints, was called before the MPNFL tribunal after an incident that left Red Hill player Blake Thompson with a broken jaw on March 9. The former AFL tagger was found not guilty of striking and not guilty of charging, but was found guilty of a rough conduct charge despite a lack of video evidence. The three field umpires also told the hearing they didn't see anything. Baker is strongly protesting his innocence and is understood to be shattered by the decision. He last night told the tribunal it was the only time in his career that he wished he had been caught on camera. "I ran to intercept the Red Hill ball carrier, but a couple of seconds before I got there I noticed another Red Hill player (Thompson) was moving to shepherd his ball carrier," Baker said in his statement. I braced myself and we made contact. We clashed heads and we both went to ground. I did not raise my arm or fist. Baker was given a six-week suspension, but because that ban took him beyond a nationwide 16-week career suspension limit he was told he coudn't play football again at any level. Baker was suspended for a total of 28 weeks in his controversial AFL career, but that total is halved at amateur level - placing him on a career total of 14 weeks when he joined Sorrento. Baker copped several big suspensions during his time at St Kilda, including a seven-match ban for striking Fremantle forward Jeff Farmer and a nine-match ban on four separate charges after a stoush with Geelong's Steve Johnson in 2010. Sorrento has already lodged an appeal.