Tom Baulch ‘Prime Train’ on social media criticism, public misconceptions, his local footy tour and more
To the casual observer, Tom Baulch — Prime Train — looks like an arrogant local footy gun-for-hire who earns the big bucks. But there is much more than more than meets the eye with the figure people love to hate.
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You either love him or you hate him.
Or if you aren’t on social media, you might not even know he exists.
Tom Baulch – better known as ‘Prime Train’ – is perhaps the most well-known footballer to never play in the AFL.
Posting content with his shirt off as much as on, the flamboyant, mulleted, in-your-face social media influencer knows better than anyone he is polarising.
“I think you have to risk pissing off 80 per cent of people to find your 20 per cent of people that love you. And that’s something that I am very happy to do, otherwise you are never going to find the people that love you,” Baulch told this masthead.
“The people that love me, love me. They will buy anything, they will rock up to anywhere that I say, and they’re cult-like.
“So for me and for my life, I’m happy to deal with a little bit of stick and a little bit of hate because I know that I’ve got a really loyal following that are there with me every step of the way.”
Taking off in a big way on social media after skolling a beer from a fan during a Northern Territory Football League game in 2022 – which saw him slapped with a four-game suspension – his following now exceeds 500,000 across TikTok and Instagram.
“Going up to NT and getting handed a beer over the fence, I knew straight away that if I did it, there would be some sort of consequence, and if it was filmed, it would probably go quite viral as well,” Baulch said.
“It changed a lot of perspective on how serious I take my life, which was very good for my Australian audience because they were like, ‘This guy’s very Aussie, he’s very larrikin, he’s a bit down to earth as well’.
“And he’s not just someone on social media that is full of himself. He’s happy to have a bit of fun and have a beer.”
But misconceptions are abound about the 25-year-old personal trainer, local footballer, content creator and entrepreneur, who grew up in the 1900-population country town of Kojonup in Western Australia.
Is the ‘Prime Train’ persona different to the real Tom Baulch?
“I think so,” Baulch said. “Social media is very difficult to get a gauge on who someone is as you only get small clips, small percentages of their lives.”
“I’m super hard working, I’m super driven, I’m very energetic, and overall, I’m one of the happiest people on the earth.
“So that’s something that I always feel whenever I get any type of hate or criticism, people are always shocked by how little it affects me. Because at the end of the day I am extremely happy and that’s all that matters.”
Granted some of it is deliberately misleading, like the perception he is targeted by fans and the opposition every time he steps out on the footy field.
Well, except one game last year during his footy tour, where he played for 12 different teams in 12 weeks across Australia and two abroad for the West London Wildcards and New York.
“Tasmania last year, it was crazy. I was just getting bashed the f--- out of last year in Tassie,” Baulch chuckled.
“But I ham it up a lot. Like, there’s obviously a lot of push and shove in a game of footy and I will clip it down into five seconds or 10 seconds.
“They get millions of views, so of course I continue to post those videos.”
Baulch’s sports journalism degree has given him a greater understanding of how to market and present himself, and that larrikin persona belies the smarts of the Hale School graduate.
Unsurprisingly, Prime Train’s most viewed video is of him again getting “bashed” playing for Noosa three years ago, seen more than six million times.
The second-most popular clip has around two million plays, where Baulch is abused by the crowd, kicks the goal and lets the sheepish fans know about it.
“(The criticism) is constant, it comes especially during footy season a lot,” Baulch said.
“But the most common thing that I get during footy games is someone trying to take my head off, and then after the game they say, ‘Mate I love ya, I’ve used one of your programs before and I love your content and I follow you’.
“And I think to myself, ‘Why were you trying to belt me the entire game’?
“Maybe that’s tall poppy syndrome, maybe that’s Australian culture, I’m not sure. But a lot of the time, the people that pretend that hate me the most are generally the people that actually love me the most.”
To the casual observer, Baulch may look like an arrogant gun-for-hire who earns the big bucks.
But there is much more than more than meets the eye with the local footy enigma.
HOW IT BEGAN
Let’s start with ‘Prime Train’.
Prime Train is the fitness business which Baulch started up – that has trained AFL players Tom Mitchell, Nick Watson, Nate Caddy and Darcy Wilson – rather than a self-imposed name.
“People get so confused, they think that ‘Prime Train’ is a nickname that I’ve given myself,” Baulch chuckled.
“But ‘Prime Train’ has always been the name of my fitness business, and footy has really just been a secondary thing to that as well. It’s never really been in the main focus,” Baulch said.
“(Footy’s) more just been a vessel for me to continue to build on my fitness business. So ‘Prime Train’, it’s kind of where everything happens for me, it’s where I earn most of my money,” Baulch said.
The fitness fanatic is up before 5am every morning and is tied up throughout the day on calls and working with clients, who he trains online and in-person.
“I work with some pro-athletes, mostly at the moment everyday athletes and people trying to get to the top level,” Baulch said.
“It’s extremely busy and then create a bit of social media content if I can, but trying to handball as much of that stuff off as I can to people who work with me.”
The ‘Prime Train’ fitness brand already had 200,000 social media followers when Baulch decided to post footy highlights, which the punters loved.
Having featured for East Perth in the WAFL Colts and in the VFL with Aspley, Baulch is certainly no slouch, and his antagonistic approach generated plenty of attention.
It has evolved to the point where he now takes his talents to all corners of the country on his local footy tour, which is in its second year.
On Saturday, Prime Train will feature alongside a host of footy content creators and ex-AFL players Charlie Dixon, Mitch Dixon, Hamish Hartlett and Matt Broadbent in the ‘Div 12 Ressies’ State of Origin match in Adelaide.
Despite Prime Train’s popularity and talent, he claims he only receives around $500-$2000 each game in match payments – all of which goes towards the costs associated with roaming around the country.
“People think that me travelling around to local footy, I’m going around and picking up big stacks of cash, but that’s not really the case,” Baulch said.
“I don’t really make any money out of it whatsoever, which I think is a rude shock to a lot of people – they always think I’m making money out it, but I actually don’t make anything.
“I was only getting paid two grand a game. So after I paid for my videographer, accommodation and flights for some of them, I’m not making any money at all.
“People think that I’m getting like five or ten grand a game, but I definitely wasn’t getting that at all last year.”
“Last year I lost money. It’s got nothing to do with grabbing a stack of cash and everything to do with expanding the brand and helping out local footy as much as I possibly can as well.”
LOCAL FOOTY TOUR
Prime Train certainly gives clubs bang for their buck in his cameo appearances.
Fans – especially the younger generation – flock to see him in action, with Phillip Island one of the clubs that saw the benefits last year.
Around 4000 people packed into Cowes Recreation Reserve for the Easter Saturday clash between Phillip Island and the Warragul Industrials to see Prime Train put on a clinic.
Baulch wowed the crowd with an eight-goal haul and best-on-ground display.
But it is off the field where former longtime Phillip Island footy director Scott Huther was really impressed as he trained with the juniors – and even offered some training programs – stuck around for dinners and more.
“(Him playing) obviously generates extra people coming to the game, so you get a bigger gate (take-in),” Huther said.
“It’s more what he brings to training and how he gets around the juniors.
“A lot of people probably don’t realise, he comes across as it’s all about himself but it’s actually not. It’s all about Aussie rules footy, it’s about looking after yourself, doing the right thing, eating properly. He’s just a genuine good person.
“He generates some interest, he puts it out there, he’s promoting the game for each club he goes to – plus he plays good footy when he is there.
“He gets there and does the hard stuff, he is not a show pony on the outside.”
Baulch returned to play for Phillip Island in the back-half of the season after his footy tour was over.
Huther is fully supportive of what Baulch does for grassroots footy, saying he is far different to other well-known footballers who take the money and run.
“When he comes and plays for us, he plays for base payments, he doesn’t get paid so he does it because he loves it and he loves the club,” Huther said.
“Obviously you get playing one-off appearances around where they just come in, there for the day and then off they go.
“I do know he goes to clubs and he buys all the apparel, he doesn’t get that all for free. He buys raffle tickets, he buys tea and drinks, and he goes out with the boys.
“So he’s not just turning up and playing, he actually gets committed and buys all their kit, which is pretty amazing to be honest.”
Baulch says he is fully invested in helping local footy clubs through his footy tour.
“It’s a lot deeper than just going to these football clubs and getting in and getting out on a Saturday, I find that’s a bit superficial, and that’s not that’s the person that I want to be or the things that I want to do,” Baulch said.
“So I always try to rock up and be myself, but also be super energetic, get around all the boys and give back to the juniors as much as well. Because they’re crazy engaged with things that I do and crazy engaged on platforms like TikTok.”
SOCIAL MEDIA SOLUTION
Baulch’s compassion for local footy clubs stems from his childhood, where he grew up watching his parents Michael and Rachael slave away for the good of his local footy club.
“I grew up in a small country town where my dad was the president of the club and my mum was working in the canteen and it was backs against the wall to get the club any type of funding,” Baulch said.
“The only real way you could do it is by getting a marquee player down or something to get more people through the gates.
“So when I see local football clubs struggling or they might need a hand financially, then I’m always happy to rock up, play a game and hopefully get some more people through the gates, get some bar sales and get some more canteen sales.
“And if that requires a few people to shout over the fence at me some abusive things, I’m happy to cop it.”
Blighty in the Picola league was one club Baulch played for last year that were doing it tough, putting them on the map by registering a staggering 81 disposals.
“It was in a pretty lowly ranked league, so you might have to take off 40 of those disposals for difficulty,” Baulch joked.
Baulch knows better than anyone the power of social media and has seen the state of community footy — especially in the regions.
He believes local footy clubs are in trouble, and sees social media as the solution to turn clubs’ fortunes around.
“(Local footy’s) struggling because it is living in the past. With social media being so prevalent in people’s lives, you need to be able to figure out how to build some sort of hype build some sort of interest in local football,” Baulch said.
“And using social media to do that to get the younger generation involved is extremely important, and if you can’t do that, then you’ll slowly just phase out of existence.
“Dad’s never have any idea (who I am) because they don’t live online.
“But these kids all live online and at the end of the day, you need the kids to be getting get into the games because the kids bring the parents and parents sit in the bar, the kid go to the canteen and everyone pays a fee to get in.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Baulch has come a long way from juggling a sports journalism degree and semi-professional footy.
“I was definitely a kid in more ways than one,” Baulch admitted.
“As soon as it started to happen, it happened so quickly and everything changed in my life, from social following to financially as well from a pretty young age.
“I probably wasn’t too sure how to how to do it at the start and how to doing it right, but now being in the game for a while I’ve started to mature a little bit on that front I’d say.”
Baulch knows the criticism will continue to come on his provocative content, but he maintains he has never had a negative interaction IRL (in real life).
“Anyone that I’ve talked to in real life is extremely kind and very supportive,” Baulch said.
“Generally the most common thing I get is either, ‘I really wanted to dislike you but you’re actually a nice guy’. Or I get, ‘I know you cop a lot of stick but I actually really like ya’.
“So to my face I have never had someone say, ‘I really hate you mate’. Again that shows how tough people are on social media versus in real life.”
Prime Train isn’t sure exactly what’s next for his growing brand, but his chief aim will be to help as many as he can live healthy and happy lives.
“That’s kind of always been my goal, to make people on this earth as motivated to be fit and to be healthy as possible, and to give as much information and add as much value to people’s life – whether that’s from a training, nutrition or mindset perspective and kind of help them live their life the best way,”
“Whether the vessel is through social media or through footy, or it’s through one-to-one and actually meeting these people, that’s kind of where I see my place in the world.”
Originally published as Tom Baulch ‘Prime Train’ on social media criticism, public misconceptions, his local footy tour and more
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