Richmond VFL and development coach Craig McRae provides ‘Roar Vision’ with an insight into the impressive progress of talented small man Liam Baker.

Overview

“He’s had a good couple of years. Last year was his first year (of AFL football) and his pre-season was outstanding and he set himself up. I know Andrew McQualter (Tigers assistant coach) has done a heap of work with him this year on his craft and his game. He’s playing AFL footy now and he looks at home.”

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Hard runner

“His running capability is really strong. He’s probably not in the top two or three runners (at the Club), but certainly match-day his GPS is really high . . .”

Top VFL form early this year

“I think these young players, when they play consistently well at VFL and they look above the level, they come in (to the AFL) and they impact. He’d been doing that for a number of weeks, particularly in the practice games and then leading into the JLT (pre-season series) . . .”

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Key on-field attributes

“He’s tough and a very highly-skilled player. He’s clean at ground level . . . he just doesn’t fumble. And his tackle pressure has really stood out. He’s also put a lot of time into his finishing with the other small forwards after training."

No. 1 at the Club in pressure acts for chasing and corralling

“He’s got elite work-rate. His contest-to-contest stuff is his real weapon. He’s really bought into the defensive part of the game, and those numbers back that up . . . He just continues to work hard.”