Taylor Walker says he thinks about his former Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh while driving to training every day
ADELAIDE captain Taylor Walker says he thinks about the late Phil Walsh while driving to training every day and is daring to dream about a shot at a premiership that would be the ultimate tribute.
- The brutal genius of Crows coach Blight
- Tickets to sold-out clash already selling online
- Phil Walsh, a football genius: Kane Cornes
- Taylor re-signs until 2021
ADELAIDE captain Taylor Walker says he thinks about the late Phil Walsh while driving to training every day and is daring to dream about a shot at a premiership that would be the ultimate tribute to his former coach.
In a revealing interview, Walker has also opened up about the pre-dawn phone call he got on July 3, 2015, to tell him Walsh had been killed.
“I don’t reckon there’d be a day that I don’t drive to the footy club and think either ‘do it for Phil’ or think of him for some reason,” Walker told social media platform 20FOUR.
“I think it’s just because I’ve got a unique connection with him.”
Walker’s first memory of Walsh was listening to him deliver Dean Bailey’s eulogy in 2014.
“No script, nothing written down and he stood up there and spoke for a good 20 or 30 minutes about Dean Bailey and I thought ‘wow, I’d love to meet this bloke’,” Walker said.
“I never got to until the day our club announced he was our new coach, and I felt this connection with him.
“I still remember in the coffee shop he went through the whole leadership group and asked me who I thought should be captain and I said everyone but me.
“And he said, ‘No I want you to be captain’, my instant reaction was no and I hopped in the car and thought ‘bloody hell I need to have a think about this’.”
Walker also recalls the phone call he got from chief executive Andrew Fagan telling him Walsh had died and how he had to tell some of his teammates.
“It was our day off and I was lying in bed at quarter-to-five in the morning and I remember my phone vibrating next to my bed and it was Fages and I thought ‘bugger you I’m not answering it’s my day off’,” Walker said.
“And he rang straight back and I instantly felt sick.”
Walker said Fagan told him Walsh had been killed but had to repeat it before it sunk in.
“I was living with Crouchy at the time and I had to break the news to Brad, I ended up ringing my girlfriend and she had to come and pick us up.
“I had to tell Daniel Talia pretty much through his front fence ... I then had to go to VB’s house and knock on his door and tell him.
“Then drive down Port Road which felt like it went forever.”
Walker said he did most of his grieving in private and now two years later as the Crows prepare for Friday night’s preliminary final against Geelong, says Walsh’s memory is a driving force for success.
“I want to win a flag, potentially it might be a reality that we might play in the last day in September, I wouldn’t acknowledge it publicly but as an individual I would acknowledge what Phil created and built early on,” Walker said.
“We’ve been through some stuff that’s not meant to be and fingers crossed we’re coming out the right side of it now.”
You can watch the full interview with walker on Twitter @20foursports.
reece.homfray@news.com.au