Former Hawthorn star Dermott Brereton slams West Coast for trade strategy around Tom Barrass and Liam Baker

Former Hawthorn premiership hero Dermott Brereton has hit out at West Coast’s trade strategy saying they could have retained pick three in the draft and still recruited Liam Baker if they’d accepted the Hawks’ initial offer for key defender Tom Barrass. West Coast handed pick three to Carlton as part of a deal that brought Baker, Blues forward Matt Owies and pick 12 to the club. The trade produced a mountain of criticism and devastation from large sections of Eagles fans. West Coast are still hoping to improve their trade haul before Wednesday’s deadline given Hawthorn have two future first round and two future second round picks. But Brereton said West Coast should never have rejected the Hawks’ offer for Barrass which included pick 14 because they could have given that to Richmond, still recruited Baker and retained pick three. He said the Eagles now must accept the wrath of their fans. “In essence, the supporters will see pick three is gone and Liam Baker is in and we could have swapped Barrass for 14 with the Hawks and we’d still have pick three,” he told Fox Footy. “The days where you used to turn up to the trade and you had a warm beer and you’d want to get a pot of gold for it and everybody sat out until the end, they’re gone. “There’s no way the West Coast wouldn’t have thought that original deal wasn’t there abouts, but they sat on their hands. Now they’re going to have to contend with what their supporters say about letting pick three go out the door.” Former Western Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson believes the Eagles could still recruit WA’s Bo Allan at the draft in the first round and not suffer badly from dropping from pick three. But Brereton said handing over pick three to sign a player such as Baker was fraught with risk. “It helps but don’t say to yourself this is going to change this around,” he said. “Liam Baker played in the 18th team last year. It doesn’t help all that much. He’s a good player and you put good players around them but you can’t expect a smallish midfielder/outside winger, back flanker to change the fortunes of your club.”