After drawing great praise for his leadership, Adelaide Crows captain Taylor Walker’s status as the AFL’s best captain is being questioned

HE injured himself during the pre-season, carried questions from his AFL grand final performance into the new season and now Adelaide Crows captain Taylor Walker is the taunting target of the rampant Swans.

UNDER FIRE. Adelaide captain Taylor Walker’s leadership — and form — is being questioned after the Crows key forward was voted by his peers as the AFL’s best captain in 2016 and last season. His response against the Sydney Swans at the SCG on Friday night will define Walker. Picture: Daniel Kalisz (Getty Images)

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The Crows skipper was hailed by his peers as the game’s best captain — twice (2016 and last year). Now his leadership is being questioned, both on and off the field.

Richmond premiership captain Trent Cotchin knows the feeling — in reverse. His influence on a game was questioned, despite having a Brownlow Medal and three club champion titles with the Tigers.

His right to the Richmond captaincy was drowned in uncertainty during the 2017 pre-season as the Tigers delayed the announcement of their leadership team until six days before their successful AFL premiership campaign began.

Taylor Walker and Eddie Betts run out with Crows mascots at the start of the game on Friday night. Picture: Sarah Reed

Now the AFL season guide refers to Cotchin — after leading Richmond to the premiership — as “one of the game’s best captains”. Holding that big silver cup on the last day in September does change the image of an AFL club captain.

Walker’s standing — that rose as he and his playing group was admired for its resilience during the emotional and tragic scenes of the 2015 season after the death of first-year coach Phil Walsh — has slipped. His grand final performance not only had him judged as a player, but also as a leader.

Walker’s work in Friday night’s home loss to Collingwood has sharpened the commentary. The Crows’ complete fall to the Magpies has put a spotlight on all of the Adelaide team leaders, not just Walker.

But the blowtorch has been put on Walker. Essendon goalkicking hero Matthew Lloyd is the most-quoted of the critics in questioning Walker’s efforts — and the doubt on his fitness that was compromised in February and March by the plantar fascia flare up in his left foot.

From radio to television, Lloyd has noted Walker was not in the frame to compete from the start — and his performance set the tone for his team.

“I probably saw five or six efforts in the first quarter that he won’t think were great when he watches them back,” Lloyd said. “He would have known that on the night.

“It was symptomatic of how the way Adelaide played. The effort wasn’t there.”

And Lloyd cuts no slack for the question on Walker’s fitness. Those who cross the line, notes Lloyd, cannot excuse their displays with the injury question.

Taylor Walker contends with Lynden Dunn. Picture Sarah Reed

Captain Walker directs traffic on Friday. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

None of this will surprise Walker. As he told The Advertiser in the pre-season — when his grand final effort was on the agenda — there is only one meaningful measure of a captain: His actions on the field.

“A good captain performs every week — and if you don’t perform, it makes it harder to do the other things that come with leadership,” Walker said.

In Sydney, there are reports of the Swans wanting to “taunt” Walker with reminders of his work against Collingwood in this Friday night’s epic at the SCG. What do they say about tormenting proud men?

Walker’s reaction will say more of his captaincy than has been assumed from his peers looking in on the Adelaide Football Club from afar. The football field reveals all.

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