Baker was named to play for the Saints’ qualifying final against the Cats two weeks ago but was a late withdrawal with a toe injury.
Riewoldt said Baker was just the type of player the Saints could do with in this week’s preliminary final clash with the Bulldogs.
“From a player’s point of view I’ve played with him my whole career and he’s a guy who you’d love to go to war with. He’d jump on a grenade for you, he’s that sort of player,” Riewoldt said.
“If there’s a spot for him in the team he would be welcomed.”
Bulldogs defender Dale Morris is expected to return from a back injury this week with Riewoldt his most likely opponent.
The two have lined up on each other frequently in the past few years and Riewoldt said he would be looking to run Morris around as much as possible.
“That’s my aim going in to every game. I’ll be trying to play my game and he’ll be trying to play his,” Riewoldt said.
“We’ve played on each other the majority of times the two teams have played each other in the past few years. If he plays I’d expect that (he would line up on me).
“We know what to expect from each other. He’s a great competitor.”
Riewoldt missed three months of the season with a hamstring injury and said the layoff helped contribute to his fresh mindset leading into this year’s finals series.
“It’s hard to compare between years. Last year you were at the end of a long campaign. This year feels a little bit different mentally, more than anything having not played for a lot of the season,” he said.
“I went into last year feeling pretty good and it’s the same this year, I trained pretty hard while I was injured.”
