West Coast Eagles recruit Liam Baker wants to help engineer success at new club after Richmond Tigers flags

Liam Baker chose to buy in to West Coast’s rebuild because he wants his next football success to be one he has built from the ground up. Baker also brushed off concerns over an ankle injury that has kept him out of training this week and said the Eagles had taken a cautious approach weeks out from their firs pre-season matches. The former Richmond player — who was involved in two of the club’s three premierships in four years — says he caught the tail-end of the Tigers’ dynasty but and that some of that club’s greats reminisced fondly on their hard times. It’s why he said he was only “a little bit” tempted by to move to a club closer to its premiership window, like cross-town rivals Fremantle, when he made the call to leave Richmond. “I have always loved this club and I felt like at Richmond I jumped on the end of their successful era and they always spoke about how good the hard times were when it was tough, when they ended up winning a few flags,” Baker said. “That really drove me to come here as well, being part of a group that has changed and has a new style, new coaches, new players. “I want to ride that wave and see how we get there in the end.” The 27-year-old has been installed into West Coast’s leadership group — alongside fellow ex-Tiger Jack Graham — just months into his time at the club. That group, which is headed up by co-captains Oscar Allen and Liam Duggan, has lost vice-captain Tom Barrass, who was traded to Hawthorn. “They told me why they wanted me here and that was to lead on and off the field and I feel that if I just be myself and try and push the group on the field and have a laugh, that’s my leadership style,” Baker said. “I’m just trying to be myself, I didn’t want to wait until the start of the season to try and make an impact, so I was lucky enough to be voted in by the boys. “I have just got to keep on doing what I do.” The Lake Grace and Subiaco product landed at the club in a three-way trade that also involved Carlton and new teammate Matt Owies. It brought about some heat from Eagles fans unhappy they gave up the third pick in last year’s draft to get the deal done. Carlton took Victorian midfielder Jagga Smith — who was lauded by star teammate Harry McKay for his pre-season this week — while the Eagles landed homegrown utility Bo Allan at pick 16. Baker joked he had Eagles fans “chuck something” at him on the street the other day before clarifying he had been embraced since moving back to his home State. “I had something chucked at me the other day — nah, kidding,” he said with tongue firmly in cheek. “It’s all good, I wouldn’t say it was a rough first few days, but it was ‘oh, this is what I’m in for’. “Since I’ve been back here I honestly haven’t heard too much about it, but that’s the nature of the game, I wanted to get here and it caused a few headlines. “They say they’re happy, I’m happy, we’re all happy. “I am in the same boat as them (the fans). I want to win, they want to see us win, so it’s my job know to be the best player I can be and push this team as far as I can as well as everyone else.” Baker was Richmond’s Mr. Fix It. He played through the midfield and as a forward as he grew to play a lead role at the powerhouse club. He is most at home in the back-half, where he is set to start life as an Eagle under former Richmond interim coach Andrew McQualter, but he stressed he is not coming to the club to be a lone-wolf half-back like some clubs employ. “At the moment it is similar to what I have played for most of my career, just a back-flanker,” Baker said. “It’s not like I’m there to get the ball 40 times and try and be the one-man show off half-back, I am just going to fit into a role along with Coley (Tom Cole), Reuben (Ginbey) and Houghy (Brady Hough) down there. “We are still learning how to play together, we are a better team when us smaller backs are sharing the footy around and working the way up. “It’s not like I’ve come here to be a star half-back, I’m here to tough it out and help win games for West Coast.” Baker said he was up for a midfield role if one opened up during the season, but would play wherever he was needed. He was used at 35 per cent of centre bounces for the Tigers last season, up from just four in 2023 and seven in 2022. “It’s all about the right mix and I feel like we’ve got some big bulls in there and some good runners as well, so if it happens it happens, I’m happy to play anywhere,” he said. Baker’s ankle injury came at the start of a horror week for West Coast on the training track, with veteran midfielder Elliot Yeo set to miss the start of the season with an ankle and knee injury, while Harley Reid also limped off Mineral Resources Park on Friday. But the half-back says his injury is a garden variety rolled ankle. “Yeah nah not too bad, just a pretty straight-forward rolled ankle,” Baker said. “You saw me hobbling off for about 10 seconds and after that it was all good. Did a bit of running today (Friday), I’ll work into it next week. “If it was gameday, I probably would have got out there today, but because it’s January, I just had a bit of a rest and will get into it next week.” It means he is fit and firing for an earlier-than-expected reunion with his old teammates. West Coast are locked in to face Richmond in a match simulation at Mineral Resources Park on February 17, the first time new coach McQualter, Graham and Baker will face their former club. “It will still be a bit more of a laugh out there, tapping each other on the shoulder and stuff, but I still feel there will be a bit of heat when we meet them in round 10 or whenever we are playing them,” Baker said. “It will all be in good faith, we will have a bit of a laugh pre and post game and they want to win just as much as we do, so there won’t be any hard feelings out there but we might have a bit of a laugh.”