He’s twice been the AFLPA’s captain of the year but Taylor Walker says it might be time to give up the Adelaide captaincy
Adelaide co-captain Taylor Walker says it could be time for him to give up his leadership role for another player or for Rory Sloane to take the captaincy by himself.
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Taylor Walker will consider giving up his leadership position at the Crows next season.
After leading the club in his own right from 2015-18, the key forward shared the captaincy duties with Rory Sloane this year.
But after a second consecutive year without finals following being minor premier and grand finalist in 2017, Walker said the time might be right to relinquish his leadership post.
“I’ll sit down and think about it,” he told Triple M.
“I’ll discuss it with people I trust.
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“Whether it’s something I want to do or if it’s that time of my career and time for the footy club that we put someone else in that role … or Sloaney does it by himself.
“I’ve had an okay year, some games I wish I’d played better.”
Walker, 29, won Adelaide’s goalkicking with 43, kicking a season-high five majors in the final home-and-away series against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat on Sunday.
It was the fourth time in the past five years he has kicked 40 or more goals.
But the player named the AFL Players’ Association’s captain of the year in 2016 and ‘17 had his position in the Crows team come under scrutiny this season because of inconsistent form.
Walker said he was more concerned with team success than individual statistics and that the team had “underachieved” this season in finishing 11th with a 10-12 record.
He backed the club’s decision to undertake an external review to examine what needed to change.
“There needs to be change, that’s a simple as it is,” Walker said.
“I think we should be playing finals, we shouldn’t be finished now.
“We set some expectations at the start of the year but haven’t made finals in the past two years.
“We need to find out why and hopefully we do over the next few weeks.”
Despite back-to-back failed seasons, Walker believes the club can quickly turn its on-field fortunes around.
“Clearly there will be some changes in the list,” he said.
“But we have some young guys that will push our footy club forward.’’