Full name Taylor Walker Weight 98 kg Nickname(s) Tex, Texan Career start 2008 | Name Taylor Walker Original team NSW/ACT Rams Height 1.94 m | |
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Date of birth (1990-04-25) 25 April 1990 (age 25) Draft Pick #75 (NSW SP), 2007 National Draft, Adelaide Role Australian rules football player Profiles | ||
Barebacked taylor walker can t be stopped afl
Taylor Walker (born 25 April 1990) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a former NSW Scholarship player with the club, and was drafted with pick 75 in the 2007 National Draft. Walker has served as the captain of Adelaide since the 2015 season.
Contents
- Barebacked taylor walker can t be stopped afl
- Player review taylor walker
- Early life
- AFL career
- Statistics
- References
Player review taylor walker
Early life
Walker attended Willyama High School in Broken Hill. His father, Wayne, was a prominent footballer in Broken Hill who played more than 350 games, and Walker soon followed in his footsteps. In 2006, Walker accepted a NSW Scholarship contract with Adelaide, at the age of 16. However, he continued to play for his senior local amateur league team, North Broken Hill, in the Broken Hill Football League, leading them to the 2007 Premiership with a seven-goal, best on ground performance, playing at centre half forward.
AFL career
Walker spent his first year at the Crows playing for Norwood in the SANFL, kicking more than 50 goals in the 2008 season. He made his AFL debut in round 1 the next season, against Collingwood, and held his place in the side for the next 12 rounds. This included a five-goal performance against reigning premiership Hawthorn in round 10, which earned him an AFL Rising Star nomination. However, only three weeks later he was dropped from the senior side and played just one more match for the season, with coach Neil Craig wanting him to work on deficiencies in his game.
Walker returned to the side in 2010 and showed fluctuating form, showing glimpses of brilliance alongside some poor performances. He was dropped from the side on a number of occasions throughout the year, sparking rumours that he and head coach Neil Craig were not seeing eye to eye and that Craig was using Walker as a scapegoat for Adelaide's poor form throughout the year. Again, Walker was accused of not showing enough defensive pressure in the forward line. He finished with 35 goals for the season from 18 games, including two bags of 4 goals against Fremantle and then Geelong.
Early in 2011, Walker was dropped once again and was seen drinking a beer on live television at a SANFL game, sparking speculation that he 'didn't care' and may have signed a contract with incoming expansion team Greater Western Sydney, with whom Walker had been previously strongly linked. However, late in the season, Walker re-signed with the Crows for a further four years. Despite inconsistent form and injuries, Walker was the club's leading goalkicker in 2011, booting 32 goals from only 13 games, at an average of 2.5 per game, ranked sixth in the AFL.
2012 saw Walker improve under new coach Brenton Sanderson. As of round 8, Walker led the Coleman Medal count, before two separate suspensions for rough tackles cost him the chance to lead the league's goalscoring. However, Walker returned to finish the season in good form, booting five goals in Adelaide's come-from-behind Semi Final win over Fremantle, and four goals the next week in the Crows' Preliminary Final loss to Hawthorn. In total, Walker kicked 63 goals for the season and 3.3 per game, second in the AFL behind Lance Franklin.
In round 5, 2013, against Carlton, Walker badly hyper-extended his right knee and suffered an ACL injury, requiring a full reconstruction and 12-month rehabilitation period. In the meantime, Walker made headlines by appearing on The Footy Show and agreeing to shave his famous mullet to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation. He then went on to raise a total of $66,672.45 for the foundation before having his head shaved by TV personality and former Geelong star Sam Newman.
Walker made his return to competitive football early in the 2014 season in the Adelaide Crows reserves' side, kicking three goals in a 37-point loss to Glenelg. He made his return to the AFL against Collingwood in Round 9 at the Adelaide Oval, and played every game for the remainder of the season, kicking multiple goals in 11 games and a career-best six against the Brisbane Lions. He finished with 34 goals in 15 games, and averaged a career-high 14.7 disposals per game. In November, Walker extended his contract with the Crows for three further years, until the end of 2018.
In January 2015, Walker was appointed captain of Adelaide. He returned to his best form in that year, finishing fourth in the Coleman Medal with 55 goals in the home-and-away season and leading the club inspirationally as they overcame the death of senior coach Phil Walsh to make the semi-finals. In 2016, he was voted the AFL Player's Association captain of the year.
In a pre-season game against the Brisbane Lions in 2017, Walker sustained a hamstring injury which ruled him out of the season opener against Greater Western Sydney. In Round 4 in a match against Essendon, Walker kicked four goals in the first quarter and five for the half, in addition to providing teammate Eddie Betts with three goal assists. Essendon put several different defenders on Walker, but none could do anything to stop him. He kicked five goals again in the Round 6 match against Richmond, including two big goals from outside 50 in the third quarter. He had another outstanding performance in Round 16 against the Western Bulldogs, teaming up with Josh Jenkins for a combined total of 18 marks and 7 goals, Walker taking 7 marks and kicking 3 goals himself.