Many Eagles fans voiced their displeasure when West Coast agreed to slide from pick No.3 to pick No.12 at last year's national draft as part of the trade to snare two-time Richmond premiership winner Baker.
The Eagles also received Carlton small forward Matt Owies as part of the three-club deal, and they ended up selecting highly-rated West Australian Bo Allan with the draft pick they received.
The Eagles also secured Matt Owies from Carlton in the three-club deal to get Liam Baker. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)
Baker has made an immediate impact at West Coast, with the 27-year-old voted into the club's leadership group.
So are Eagles fans on board the Baker bandwagon now that a bit of time has passed?
"I had something chucked at me the other day ... nah, I'm kidding," Baker said with a laugh.
"I wouldn't say it was a rough first few days (when I arrived), but it was a bit of a: 'this is what I'm in for'.
"But since I've been back here, honestly I haven't heard too much about it,
"It's the nature of the game, you know,
"I wanted to get here, and then the way (I) got here just caused a few headlines. But they (West Coast) say they're happy. I'm happy. So we're all happy."
Quite often, players jump ship in order to join a rival club that's in a premiership window.
That's not the case for Baker, who is joining an Eagles outfit in the midst of the biggest rebuild in the club's history.
"I felt like at Richmond I jumped on the end of a successful era, and they always spoke about how good the hard times were now that they ended up winning a few flags," Baker explained.
"So that sort of drove me to come here as well, being part of a group that's changing, new style, new coaches, new players.
Watch the full press conference with Liam Baker.— West Coast Eagles (@WestCoastEagles) https://t.co/J4tcSHHP2AJanuary 31, 2025
"I want to ride that wave to see how we get there to the end."
Baker has averaged around 19 possessions per game over the past four seasons playing mostly as a half-back flanker.
He expects to play a similar role at West Coast - and he's more than happy not to steal the headlines.
"It's not like I'm here to get the ball 40 times and try to be the one-man show off half back," Baker said.
"I'm just going to fit into a role along with (Tom) Cole and Reuben (Ginbey) and Brady Hough.
"We're a better team when our smaller backs are sharing the footy around and working the ball up."
Baker rolled his ankle at training earlier this week, but he said the injury was only minor and he'll be back in full training shortly.
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