In 2020, it seemed as if Taylor Walker was done, now after 250 games you could almost say he’s playing the best footy of his career as he and the Crows push to end their finals drought.
Three years on, “Tex” is about to head into contract talks with the Crows off the back of a record-breaking goal haul and “fairytale” performance that suggests he has plenty left to give.
Walker booted 10.2 against West Coast in his 250th game on Saturday evening.
That was just five shy of his overall goal tally across 14 matches in 2020 – the worst-performing campaign for him and the club, which claimed its inaugural wooden spoon in the first season of its rebuild under coach Matthew Nicks.
After the Crows’ 122-point thumping of the Eagles, the 33-year-old sat equal-first in the Coleman Medal race and Adelaide was sixth on the ladder with a 7-6 record.
Walker is desperate to help the club end its six-year finals drought and if it makes the eight, he will have played a huge part.
It was the Taylor Walker show at the Adelaide Oval. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The former captain ranks elite among key forwards this season for contested marks (2.1 per game) and goals (3.2), and above average for disposals (12), marks (5.6), marks inside 50 (2.5), inside 50s (2.3), contested possessions (5.9) and goal accuracy (65.5 per cent).
Along with his 10 goals on Saturday, Walker also recorded a game-high 17 score involvements, a match-best 11 marks, 21 disposals (10th-highest in his career) six inside 50s (third-most on the ground) and 11 contested possessions (fifth-most in the game).
He moved level with Carlton’s Charlie Curnow and Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron on 38 majors for the season, albeit that duo was yet to play this weekend.
Teammate Darcy Fogarty would not weigh into whether Walker was a chance at winning the Coleman Medal, but speaking generally of his form he said: “He’s flying at the moment”.
“I don’t want to jinx him but he’s going really well, he’s looking fresh, he’s got a good perspective at the moment and he’s loving footy,” Fogarty told The Sunday Mail.
Without Walker in the side, Adelaide has a 2-8 win-loss record (20 per cent) over the past three seasons.
It boasts a 20-27 mark (42.5 per cent) when he plays.
Walker is 14 clear of Adelaide’s second-highest goalkicker this season, Izak Rankine, while Fogarty (21) is third.
But Walker’s importance to the team is much more than what he does on the field.
Walker is currently tied for the lead in the Coleman Medal. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Nicks has often spoken of the massive legacy the former captain will leave once he departs and part of that is the influence he has had on the Crows’ emerging forwards as a mentor.
Fogarty, now in his sixth season at the club, became contemplative and a little lost for words when asked what Walker had done for him personally.
“He’s been a massive support for me, as he has been for everyone,” he said.
“He’s a massive block for me to lean on and has really helped me out.
“You know what he does on the field and he helps me with that, but away from footy … he’s brought me into his family – he couldn’t have done more for me.
“He instils confidence into everyone and he drives standards.
“You walk a little bit taller when you’re around the Texan, it’s pretty special.”
A festive mood blanketed Adelaide’s change rooms post-match on Saturday.
Most people were there for the milestone man.
A group of Walker’s family and friends from Broken Hill were on the eastern side of the rooms.
His journey to the milestone was encapsulated in some of their outfits.
There were “Tex 250” jumpers, No. 13 guernseys and at least one person in the jumper of Walker’s hometown club, North Broken Hill Bulldogs.
Walker posed with his mates for photos, in between hugs and kisses with his family, including wife, Ellie, and their three children, Hugo, 3, Louis, 2, and Hattie, seven months.
Walker with sons Hugo and Louis in the rooms after the game. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“It’s obviously been an emotional and exhausting week for him,” Fogarty said.
“I think he’s put on a bit of a brave face.
“The occasion would get to him because it’s a special thing and not many people get to 250 – he’s the ninth player for our club.
“So he should be emotional, it’s a massive achievement.
“To come out and perform so well is a credit to him.
“You couldn’t write a better script.”
Nicks said Walker had been a little nervous and edgy before the match, but did not show it on the field.
Walker booted the first of his goals in 50 seconds, added to more in the first term, then four in the second quarter to equal his career-best tally of seven by the main break.
“We reiterated it’s such a big milestone but we had to play our game style and that’s what was going to reward him and get the chocolates,” Fogarty said.
“The boys were trying to feed it to him a bit but half the goals he kicked himself so he didn’t need too much help, which is pretty special.
“Everyone wanted it for him.”
The Crows celebrate Walker’s tenth goal. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Nicks described it as a fitting occasion.
“To finish the way it did, him kicking 10 in his 250th, it’s a fairytale and a fantastic night for the club, for “Tex”, his family and for all our supporters who have been there the whole journey,” he said.
“He’s one of the best finishers in the comp on both sides of the body and he showed that again tonight.”
Nicks: Ruthless Crows went for the kill
Jason Phelan
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks was thrilled with the ruthless way that his players went in for the kill against West Coast after he spoke about the importance of boosting percentage during the halftime break.
Led by Taylor Walker’s career-best 10-goal haul, the rampant Crows were up by 66 points at halftime then maintained the rage after the break to lead by 97 at three-quarter time and 122 at the final siren.
The whopping total of 27.12 (174) was the highest kicked by any team this season, the ninth-highest score in the club’s history and its sixth-greatest winning margin in the result that gained just over 11 percentage points and moved them back into the top eight.
The Crows coach admitted he told his players how valuable a percentage boost was. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“I need to be careful what I share with everyone,” Nicks replied with a wry smile when asked if he had spoken about the opportunity to gain valuable percentage against the injury-ravaged Eagles.
“We had a conversation at halftime.
“Teams that find themselves up the way that we were at halftime often drop away in the second half, so we had a conversation about that in the break.
“It was a risk, and I mentioned it being a risk to the playing group, but I’d rather us talk about it (during the game) and that was about us just sticking to what we’d done up until that point because percentage is really important.
“We are 7-6 going into the break, we are right in the fight and the fight has got a lot of teams in it, so if we continue to play the footy that we know we can then percentage is going to be really important at the end of the year.
“It was really pleasing because we did it for four quarters.
“We were really consistent, we didn’t give an inch, we didn’t give them an opportunity to build momentum to come back into the game.”
The Crows poured it on throughout the game. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Nicks was delighted that Walker was able to celebrate his milestone in such fine style after the 33-year-old admitted to some nerves during the week.
“He’d been a little bit nervous, a little bit edgy,” Nicks said.
“He mentioned it post-game, but he didn’t show it.
“It was a fitting night for him, for the team, and for everyone who came out.
“For it to finish the way that it did, for him to kick 10 in his 250th, it’s a fairytale and it was a fantastic night for the club and for Tex and his family and for all of our supporters who have been there for the whole journey.”
Walker celebrated his 250th in grand style. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The Crows enter their bye round well-placed to make a finals run with a 7-6 record, although just one of those wins has come away from their fortress at Adelaide Oval.
“We look at the second half of the year and how we can get better, and we know that we can be better away from home,” Nicks conceded.
“So there’s still more upside.
“We love playing in front of our fans … but we can be better on the road.
We’re working our way through it.
“Our road trips have been challenging. We’ve gone to Ballarat, we’ve been to Darwin … we’ve been everywhere.
“We haven’t been blown away, necessarily, away from home.
“There are a lot of little things that we’ve just got to improve on, and we’ll get that with experience, hopefully, in the second half of the year.”
CROWS 7.5 14.8 21.10 27.12 (174)
EAGLES 2.1 4.2 6.3 8.4 (52)
PHELAN’S BESTCROWS: Walker, Laird, Dawson, Rankine, Keays, Sloane, Jones, Milera, O’Brien. EAGLES: Williams, Kelly, Yeo, Petrucelle.
GOALS CROWS: Walker 10, Rankine 3, Thilthorpe 2, Sloane 2, Sholl 2, Murphy 2, Fogarty 2, Soligo, Rachele, Pedlar, Keays. EAGLES: Maric 2, Williams, Petruccelle, Kelly, Gaff, Darling, Allen.
INJURIES CROWS: Nil. EAGLES: Foley (hamstring), Waterman (illness – late withdrawal).
UMPIRES Fisher, Haussen, Howorth, Tee.
ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Walker (Adel)
2 Laird (Adel)
1 Dawson (Adel)