Liam Baker

Liam Baker (born 27 January 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

He played junior representative football with West Perth in the WAFL and represented Western Australia at national championships at under 18 level.

In 2014 he received the best and fairest award for the Great Southern Colts carnival that June.

He later played representative football in Perth as a junior with the colts program of WAFL club West Perth.

While in Perth he attended high school at Aquinas College.

After being undrafted in 2016, Baker then played senior WAFL football with Subiaco.

In 2016 Baker represented Western Australia at the 2016 AFL Under 18 Championships.

There he averaged 17.7 disposals and a goal per game across three matches.

Following that season Baker was one of just 12 Western Australians and 80 young players across the country to be invited to the national draft combine in Melbourne in October.

At the combine he placed equal-second overall in the goal-kicking test and seventh in the endurance running beep test.

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2016

! colspan=3| Career

! 3 ! 3 ! — ! 32 ! 21 ! 52 ! 14 ! 8 ! 1.0 ! — ! 10.7 ! 7.0 ! 17.3 ! 4.7 ! 2.7

Baker was passed over in national, pre-season and rookie drafts that year, before making a switch to play senior football with rival WAFL club Subiaco in 2017.

At the time he recognised the need to improve physically, citing poor sprint testing at the national combine as a factor in his failure to be drafted.

In addition, he worked on improving his inconsistent kicking caused by a bad ball-drop technique and a lack of positional versatility that saw him play exclusively as an inside midfielder.

Improvements in these areas saw Baker break into the club's senior side while playing predominantly as a small forward.

In just his second senior match he played a key role with three goals in a win over.

In his side's preliminary final Baker also contributed three goals.

He played a total of 13 matches at senior level including a "shining" performance in Subiaco's losing grand final in which he recorded 19 disposals, six inside-50s and five tackles.

Baker kicked 19 goals that season and held averages of 16 disposals and three tackles per game.

At the state draft combine that year he placed third in the endurance running yo-yo test.

Despite his efforts Baker was again undrafted in that year's national and pre-season drafts.

Under 18 National Championships

Baker was drafted by the Richmond tigers in the 2018 rookie draft and made his AFL debut in round 19, 2018.

Baker was drafted by with the club's first pick and the 18th selection overall in the 2018 AFL rookie draft in November 2017.

He made his first appearance for the club in a series of AFLX exhibition matches in February 2018.

Baker did not play in any of the club's pre-season matches however, nor did he earn senior selection in the early part of the home and away season.

Instead, he spent the beginning of his debut year developing with the club's reserves side in the VFL.

Baker's first starring performance at that level came in a midfield role in early May, when he recorded 24 disposals and four clearances against.

The following week he added another 23 disposals and a goal in a win over the reserves.

By early July Baker came into contention for senior selection and even traveled with the team to Sydney as an emergency in round 17.

The following week he was played in a forward-line role at the lower level and recorded 19 disposals along with an equal-game high three goals.

Baker earned an AFL debut on the back of the performance, turning in 12 disposals, five score involvements and two behinds in his side's round 19 win over at the MCG.

He held his senior spot the following week, adding 14 disposals and another two behinds before being omitted from the club's round 21 side to face.

He was an AFL premiership player with Richmond in 2019 and 2020, and in 2020 was named to the AFL's 22Under22 team, recognising the best young players in the league.

In 2022, Baker was presented the AFLPA most Courageous in the AFL award.

The captain of the Richmond Football Club, Dylan Grimes, presented the award to Baker, with Patrick Dangerfield announcing the achievement.

Baker grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in Pingaring, Western Australia, a town 341 km east of Perth.

He took up junior football with the semi-local Lake Grace-Pingrup Football Club in the Ongerup Football Association, traveling more than 60 km to do so.