Australian midfielder Baccus was signed by Stephen Robinson in the summer of 2022 and made an immediate impact with a string of brilliant performances that propelled the previously uncapped Aussie into the Socceroos World Cup squad in the Autumn of that year, when he made history as the first ever Saints player to appear at the finals.
In total, Baccus appeared in all four 2022 World Cup final matches for Australia including the last 16 tie against Argentina where he was chosen to play in direct opposition to Lionel Messi. After returning to Saints in December, his form unsurprisingly dropped slightly as speculation about his future was widespread throughout World Football, however the energetic midfielder returned back to his best when the 2023 transfer window closed in late January and he made a strong finish to the campaign as Saints made the top 6 for the first time since the split was introduced in 1998.
Speculation about Baccus moving to England in the summer of 2023 prevailed throughout the pre-season, and Saints accepted an offer from Bolton Wanderers in June of that year, which the Australian subsequently rejected and began the season with Saints, putting in a fine performance during the opening league day victory at Easter Road.
Although the Australian didn’t command a regular place in the starting XI throughout the successful campaign where Saints qualified for Europe, he was called up to the Australian squad for the Asian Cup played in early 2024, (European Championship equivalent in Asia) where he appeared in all 5 of the Socceroos matches, starting 4 of them, including the Quarter Final defeat to South Korea where they were seconds away from reaching the semi finals.
On his return to Scotland, Baccus found starting opportunities limited even further with the arrival of South Korean midfielder Kwon from Celtic, but played a commendable role mainly from the bench as Saints qualified for Europe for the first time since 1987. On the 22nd May 2024 it was announced that Baccus had made the surprising choice to sign for English League One side Mansfield Town after 72 appearances for Saints.