West Coast recruit Liam Baker has admitted his desires to leave Richmond were a distraction this season, as he aimed to pursue a trade to Western Australia.
Baker officially joined the Eagles in a three-team trade on Tuesday, with him and Carlton small forward Matt Owies traded to the Western Australian club for draft picks. A two-time premiership Tiger, the 26-year-old was drafted to play at Punt Rd in 2017 at Pick 18, ultimately playing 128 games across seven seasons.
Long rumoured to head back to his home state, Baker officially announced his preference of West Coast just minutes after former Richmond interim coach Andrew McQualter landed the head coaching gig at the Eagles in late September.
Baker reflected that McQualter's appointment would have guaranteed his preference to be West Coast had he not already decided.
"[McQualter being coach] definitely swayed me that direction when his name was in the mix, but I made up my mind before he got announced. In saying that, if he was announced if I was still up in the air, I would've been straight there," Baker said on AFL Trade Radio.
Baker also admitted that being away from home was tough on a "country boy", and played a negative role in his headspace at the club in 2024.
"It was a really tough year mentally. I felt at times at the club I was a bit distracted, and I thought I had to check myself, and remember I was still playing for Richmond at the time and to buy back in. Not that I bought out, I was just distracted at times," Baker said.
"It did wear me down a bit. I love the club, I absolutely love Richmond... just the circumstances of where it is in the country is why I wanted to leave."
Baker also confessed that leaving Richmond had played on his mind for a while, disclosing even Damien Hardwick's midseason exit in 2023 was a turning point in his mind.
"It's probably been coming for a while for me. I didn't really love Melbourne so I was always keen to come home to be closer to my network outside of footy," the 26-year-old said.
"[I have] no hard feelings for Dimma (Hardwick)... I'm sure a lot of the people around Richmond they were ready for change as well, as I was at that time."
However, just four days prior to officially joining the Eagles, Baker's deal was in limbo. Hawthorn had just traded the widely-talked-about Pick 14 to Carlton in a pick swap, instead of to West Coast for Tom Barrass. Pick 14 was said to be the key to unlocking Baker's deal with Richmond, yet as the weekend hit, Baker's WA future hung in the balance.
"Relief is probably the right word, it was a tough weekend," Baker said when asked his emotions following the trade.
"I was kind of calm about it (Hawthorn-Carlton pick swap) at the time, but the phone calls after that is where I really started to get nervous.
"Initially I was like "oh, it should be alright", and then after that I was definitely panicking. Funny enough it happened to be the weekend when they weren't doing too many trades so I had to sit on it for a couple of days."
Relieved that the deal got done, Baker's attention turns to helping West Coast turn itself around after a lack of on-field success in recent seasons, as well as forming a close connection with a fellow rural-born footballer in Harley Reid.
"One of the most exciting things for me going back there is the challenge of a team that's struggled on field in the past, but they showed some good signs this year,” Baker said.
"I can relate to [Reid], being somewhere away from home and being a country boy, so I'm sure when I get to know him a bit more we'll get along really well. First impression was really good, and obviously his on-field stuff speaks for itself."
Baker's transfer reunites him with Richmond teammate Jack Graham at the Eagles, whilst former teammates Shai Bolton and Daniel Rioli are also on the move to Fremantle and Gold Coast respectively.
With Baker's deal done and the others to follow, Richmond's draft hand has been significantly bolstered, likely to hold eight picks inside the top 25 selections, whilst West Coast have slid down the order through trading Pick 3 in the Baker arrangement.