Who was the better AFL Draft pick - Liam Baker or Tom Stewart? (HeraldSun)

[one-eyed]

Question on the HeraldSun's superfooty twitter:

Who was the better #AFLDraft pick?

Tom Stewart - pick 40, 2016

Liam Baker - pick 18, 2017 rookie draft


Every club's biggest hits and misses of the past decade: https://t.co/QmVZk6KVbi


https://twitter.com/superfooty/status/1594918354816733190

[mightytiges]

Finding a dual premiership player from a rookie draft surely is more difficult than in the early 3rd round?

[Assange Tiger 😎]

It is, but you can't really say Tom Stewart isn't the better pick. Don't know why the question is being asked however

[Andyy]

Stewart easily for me but can't know Bakes as a player or rookie pick. Barometer.

[georgies31]

One is thug and knocked a bloke purposely off the ball and that's the weakest act a footballer can do.

[Damo]

One is thug and knocked a bloke purposely off the ball and that's the weakest act a footballer can do.

Ridiculous to call him a thug .. 126 games played for one brain fade doesn't make him a thug .. as for weaker acts, ill go with anything to do with a players nuts, eye gouging, chicken wing tackle, head lock/choking, kneeing a player while he's down, kicking as all being worse .. yep, Stewart destroyed Meatball and it sucked big time, but definitely lower acts than running through a bloke and laying them out

As for the initial question, it's not a good comparison really

Stewart the better player
Baker the better draft pick considering where both were taken in the draft

Value for draft position, Baker hands down

[camboon]

Yep,it was a dog act!
Stewart’ is better and close to the top of the tree last year, but to compare Baker says a lot about how well Bakers going and considering he was a rookie ,a lot about our recruiting staff

[lamington]

My favourite memory off Stewart was when he got don’t argued but dusty in the 2017 QF

[the claw]

Have stated on a regular basis i would have been happy for us to trade Baker out because his value is so overvalued.

Just bemuses me that people in the media manage to come up with these type of comparisons.

The only similarity imo is they both came out of state leagues.
Stewart at age 24 fron the VFL and Baker at age 20 FROM THE wafl.

Stewart certainly bucks the trend at his pick multiple all australian and B&F WINNER and is probably the best in his position in the AFL.
They werent looking for an all australian here but they got one. Reckon as a mature state league player they were looking for a ready to go player who could perform a role for them thats why you go to the state leagues isnt it.
He exceeds in a big way the level he has achieved for a pick 40.

Baker well he is a solid little player who plays with gusto thats why he gets recognition but he is no where near the top in any position he plays.
For a small little player with state league experience like Stewart i reckon we have got what we thought we might. player who could perform a role or roles to a reasonable standard.

I actually watched the elimination final again and i thought for most of the game he  was found out.

[Tiger Khosh]

Did you mean to say baker instead of stewart in the 3rd last sentence? Because if you did that might be your wildest statement yet. Just no way the club or anyone could expect we’d get a 2 time premiership player, played 80 games and counting and placed 2nd, 4th and 6th in our bnf in the 5 seasons since being drafted from a speculative pick in the rookie draft.

As for the actual question, stewart easily but very strange comparison indeed. A better comparison would be stewart against broad. Still would be stewart comfortably but atleast they are both mature age picks in the national draft who play similar positions.

[tdy]

I think people accepted Stewart's "thuggery" as out of character because he's tall handsome and white. If it was an Aboriginal bloke he'd be marked as a real mongrel. I reckon he's a f'n low life ratbag who took orders from the top to clean up the opposition's best player and plead all innocent blue eyes. Total assassin for my take.

[Andyy]

I think people accepted Stewart's "thuggery" as out of character because he's tall handsome and white. If it was an Aboriginal bloke he'd be marked as a real mongrel. I reckon he's a f'n low life ratbag who took orders from the top to clean up the opposition's best player and plead all innocent blue eyes. Total assassin for my take.

Not sure about the race stuff but agree on the rest. 

[georgies31]

Like I said, his a thug people coming up with this out of character, as it's the weakest act you can do. Even the way he handled himself collecting the gf medal speaks volumes.

[Hard Roar Tiger]

The Tom Stewart knock was right in front of me and it was as blatant a hit as I’ve ever seen. There was zero intent to avoid his head and it looked at best opportunistic and at worst premeditated.

He might not be a thug but let’s be clear here - it was a thug act.

It also won them a premiership because with a fit Prestia, we beat the Cats that day.