West Coast defender Liam Baker will captain the club for the remainder of the season.

The Eagles playing group were informed on Tuesday that Baker would lead the side for the remaining two games against the Western Bulldogs and Sydney after the club accepted co-captain Liam Duggan’s two-match suspension.

Baker, who will play his 150th game against the Bulldogs on Sunday at Marvel Stadium, was vice-captain in his last season at Richmond before crossing to the Eagles at the end of 2024.

Mid-season draftee Tom McCarthy said Baker was a player “we can all trust”.

“Bakes has been awesome. Playing with him, probably my first four or five games at half-back, his talk, his leadership, his experience, is so valuable for our team,” McCarthy said yesterday, shortly after being told of Baker’s new role.

“It’s no surprise that he’ll get the captaincy this week, and he’s really growing himself as a leader and a guy that we can all trust.”

Duggan was charged with rough conduct following an incident involving Adelaide spearhead Riley Thilthorpe in the nine-point loss at Optus Stadium on Sunday, which was also his 200th game.

The Eagles accepted the sanction on Tuesday, which rules the 28-year-old out for the rest of the season.

Duggan’s suspension follows season-ending injuries to fellow co-captain Oscar Allen and leadership group member Jake Waterman, as well as the retirement of vice-captain Jeremy McGovern.

That left Baker and Jack Graham, who only returned on Sunday from a four-game suspension for a homophobic slur against GWS, as the only remaining players in the leadership group.

In an interview in June, Baker said he’d embraced the leadership role at his new club, helping to steer the second-youngest list in the AFL through its growing pains.

“It’s not a burden,” he said. “It is what it is. Maybe that’s because there’s not as many leaders out there, but you just get on with it.

“I just try and do my best every week and be consistent in messaging, in meetings and talking up out on the training track and game day. So that’s all I can do, and that’s the way I lead. So I’ll continue to do that.”

Dual Richmond premiership player Baker has not missed a game for West Coast in his first season in the blue and gold after 128 games with the Tigers.

The 27-year-old swingman has averaged 21.8 possessions, almost half of them contested, and just under four tackles a game.

He is considered one of the favourites to win this year’s John Worsfold Medal, with Reuben Ginbey, Graham, Duggan, Brady Hough and Harley Reid expected to fight out the top five.

A West Australian, Baker grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in Pingaring, 340km east of Perth.