West Coast Eagles recruit Liam Baker learns fate for ramming James Peatling’s head into the turf

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West Coast Eagles recruit Liam Baker learns fate for ramming James Peatling’s head into the turf

West Coast recruit Liam Baker has escaped a ban for an ugly forearm to the back of Adelaide midfielder James Peatling’s head on Sunday.

Instead, the defender has been fined $3125 for ramming Peatling’s head into the Adelaide Oval grass by leaning down on him with his forearm.

The ugly incident caused an aggressive melee in the dying stages of the blowout 66-point loss, with multiple Crows remonstrating with the former Tiger.

The MRO had the option to charge Baker with serious misconduct and refer him to the tribunal but settled on a financial sanction.

Essendon legend James Hird had a sterner take ahead of the verdict being handed down, labelling the Eagle’s action worse than pinning the arms in a tackle.

“That’s the sort of thing that if you get three weeks for bumping … or tackling someone and pulling them down and mistiming, that (the Baker incident) is a deliberate act,” he told Nine.

“That to me is worse than a tackle where you pull them behind and hit someone because it’s a deliberate act to try to, not so much hurt someone, but to influence someone. In a tackle, you make a mistake.”

Seven players were charged with engaging in the melee with three Crows and four Eagles including Elijah Hewett, Bailey Williams and Jack Hutchinson fined a minimum of $1000.

It’s the third time Williams has been handed a sanction for melees.

Baker joined the Eagles via trade from Richmond, where he won back-to-back premierships in 2019 and 2020, for pick 14 and has become a key player.

A suspension would have stretched the Eagles’ starting 22 to the limits with the club already without All-*********** defender Jeremy McGovern, who is set to face a concussion panel, star forward Jake Waterman, who dislocated his shoulder against the Crows, Jamie Cripps with a four-week knee injury, Elliot Yeo who is out indefinitely and Dom Sheed will miss the season with an ACL.

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