Liam Baker’s reputation as Richmond’s Mr Fixit continues to grow.

The versatile, dual Tiger premiership “pocket rocket” was huge in the team’s hard-fought, 12-point victory over Port Adelaide at the MCG last night.

Having settled extremely well back in defence throughout the past few weeks, Baker was moved forward by coach Damien Hardwick late in the contest, hoping he could provide the Tigers with a spark.

Baker duly responded in superb style, winning plenty of ball, creating opportunities for teammates, and cleverly dribbling through the match-winning goal.

He finished the game with a team-high 26 disposals, seven inside-50s, five clearances, one goal, nine score involvements and 531 metres gained.

“David Teague (Richmond assistant coach) said a really good comment . . . you want one of him on each line. He’s just such an important player . . . he’s a wonderful player,” Hardwick declared in his post-match press conference.

“He’s a guy that you love to coach because you wind him up, and off he goes.

“I thought his last quarter was pretty special.”

It’s hard to believe now, given the impact Baker is having on the AFL scene, that he was overlooked in a couple of AFL drafts before being taken by the Tigers at pick 18 overall in the 2018 rookie draft, following his impressive form at WAFL level.

Hardwick admitted to being surprised by just how good Baker has turned out to be at the game’s highest level.

“You look at him and like everyone else, we look at his size (173cm, 72kg). But what we don’t see is the enormous heart of the kid,” Hardwick said.

“Our recruiters saw something. They knew this kid deserved to play AFL footy . . .

“We’re fortunate to have a guy like Liam in our footy club, no question.”