James Hird Critiques Controversial Liam Baker Incident in Eagles-Crows Showdown: ‘That’s Even More Disturbing’

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter shifted the focus away from Liam Baker’s contentious forearm push to the back of an opponent’s head during a Sunday afternoon match when questioned about the incident.

However, former Essendon legend James Hird indicated that Baker’s foul play against James Peatling of the Crows at Adelaide Oval, which ignited a full-blown brawl, could warrant a suspension spanning several games.

As frustration peaked with the Eagles trailing Adelaide by 60 points with only two minutes remaining, Baker struck Peatling high before delivering a forearm to the back of Peatling’s head, resulting in a hard landing for the latter.

“If a player can get three weeks for bumping… or for mistimed tackling, then what [Baker did] is a deliberate act,” Hird stated on Nine’s Footy Furnace.

“To me, that’s worse than a tackle where you pull someone down and hit them because it’s a calculated move to influence a player, rather than just a mistake made during a tackle.”

During his post-match press conference, McQualter was asked whether Baker should be worried about the incident after the Eagles’ defeat, which ended at 19.14 (128) to 8.14 (62).

“I didn’t see it that way,” he responded.

“Clearly, the Crows players reacted to it.

“I was probably more disappointed with the number of high free kicks we conceded throughout the game. I thought we were quite poor in that area, giving away 12 high free kicks. It’s a technique issue for us, and we’ll need to address that.”

Riley Thilthorpe was closest to the fracas and retaliated by pushing Baker, followed by Izak Rankine who tackled Baker down to the ground, igniting the brawl.