NRL 2021: Why Sam Walker chose Roosters over Brisbane Broncos

Sam Walker has revealed the pivotal moment in his decision to snub the Broncos for the Roosters. And it speaks volumes about the Brisbane club’s culture.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 29: Sam Walker passes during a Sydney Roosters NRL training session at Kippax Lake on March 29, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

It was the $60 Uber ride that convinced Sam Walker to quit the Broncos, costing the NRL’s richest club a Queenslander rated one of the most gifted halfback talents of his generation.

Walker, the kid from Ipswich, will embark on one of rugby league’s most hyped debuts when the boom teenager makes his maiden NRL appearance for the Roosters in Sunday’s clash with the Warriors at the SCG.

At 18 years and 292 days, Walker is the eighth youngest halfback to debut since the birth of the NRL in 1998.

He will be seven days younger than Cameron Smith, the Melbourne champion who debuted at halfback for the Storm against Canterbury in 2002, eight weeks before Walker was born.

Roosters godfather Nick Politis, the business tycoon worth $2.1 billion, rates Walker so highly he recalls how the club included the teen on a trip to world-football giants Barcelona last year as part of his grooming process for a long NRL career at Bondi.

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One of the most hyped young players in the NRL, Sam Walker is finally set to make his NRL debut in Round 4. Picture: Getty Images.

“We went over to play in the World Club Challenge and we decided to have a camp in Spain,” Politis says.

“We spent time at the Barcelona Football Club and it was an eye-opener for all our guys, including Sam.

“We trained at their ground, we took Sam along to indoctrinate him on our culture and make him feel part of the team.

“Sam loved it. He went and bought all the Barcelona club gear.

“He is a special kid. The way he came on against the Raiders in that trial (in February) … it was like he had been playing for years.

“The Warriors are a huge team but Sam is such a smart young kid. He won’t be getting bashed. He will dance around and use his brain to get around the Warriors.”

But for all Politis’ billions, it was a simple taxi fare that unwittingly delivered Walker from the Broncos to Bondi.

So highly rated by the Roosters, Walker joined the team on a trip to Barcelona at the start of 2020.

The Sunday Mail can today reveal the inside story on Brisbane’s contract negotiations with Walker, their bizarre requests, and the moment that convinced the Queensland under-18s sensation to leave the Broncos and chase his NRL dream at the Roosters.

Rewind to June 2019 and Walker, the most in-demand emerging Queensland playmaker in rugby league, is mulling over the first major contract decision of his burgeoning career.

He has just celebrated his 17th birthday.

Several NRL clubs, including the Broncos and Roosters, were embroiled in a battle to win his signature in the face of interest from Rugby Australia, with Wallabies scouts having spotted Walker playing the 15-a-side code for his GPS school, Ipswich Grammar.

The Broncos were so keen to secure the rookie a development staffer tabled a preliminary offer. It was rejected by the Walker camp, who promised to stay in communication with the club.

Then Broncos coach Anthony Seibold ramped-up retention plans. Seibold set aside time in his calendar for a face-to-face meeting. There was a small problem. The date clashed with a final-year exam Walker had to take at Ipswich Grammar.

Reluctant to let Seibold down, Walker alerts his school, allowances are made, and his exam is postponed until a later date. Sorted.

The bizarre Broncos requests may have cost them teen prodigy Sam Walker. Picture: Annette Dew

Now another issue emerges. A Broncos staffer contacts Walker to advise him his parents, Ben (himself a halfback prodigy who played 72 NRL games for the Broncos) and Kylie, are not to attend the meeting.

Sam Walker, a year shy of adulthood, must meet Broncos officials alone.

Walker advises his parents of the dilemma. Without a full driver’s licence, he can’t drive from Ipswich to Red Hill, so an Uber is organised to ferry Walker for the 40km trip to hold talks with Seibold and Broncos chiefs.

As he sat in the Uber, the teenager wondered if this is how all NRL clubs do business. There was a pull to stay loyal. After all, his father Ben, and uncles Chris and Shane Walker, had spilt blood for the Broncos, playing a combined 222 first-grade games for the club under Wayne Bennett.

But after his hour-long meeting, Sam Walker walked away bemused about the DNA of the Broncos. He wasn’t feeling the love, as least not to the extent of the warmth offered by the Roosters, who flew the family to Sydney for meetings with coach Trent Robinson.

On his solo journey back to Ipswich, Walker phoned his dad.

“I’ve made up my mind,” Walker told Ben. “I’m signing with the Roosters.”

Sam Walker signing his first Roosters contract in 2019.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail on the eve of his NRL debut, Walker says he has no bad blood with the Broncos, but felt the Roosters environment could help him best succeed as a young playmaker.

“It wasn’t too hard a decision (to leave the Broncos and sign with the Roosters) to be honest,” Walker said.

“I wanted to go to a club where I could play my best football. I felt there were people at the Roosters, like Trent Robinson, who were there to support me.

“I followed the Roosters since I was seven or eight so it’s surreal to think I’m now at the club.

“I remember watching one game where the Rabbitohs beat the Roosters on the siren and I had a massive sook, I ran to my room and flipped my Roosters flag hanging on my wall the other way. I was filthy.

“I can’t be happier here. The Roosters have developed my football and my game. I also love living in Sydney. To be at a club like the Roosters was the right decision for me.”

Walker was born in 2002, the year his uncle Chris played the last of his six State of Origin games for Queensland.

Chris rubbed shoulders with Brisbane’s greatest players during his 12-year, 151-game NRL career and is adamant Sam Walker will go all the way in the game.

A young Sam Walker in Roosters gear with dad Ben.

“If he stays fit and keeps working hard, I have no doubt he will play Origin and play for Australia,” he said.

“The one remarkable attribute Sam has got is that nothing fazes him. He just doesn’t feel pressure.

“And he has a remarkable football brain. When he was seven years old, he would watch games on TV with his dad Ben and he would say, ‘How come they didn’t go down the short side there, they had a three on two’.

“From his youngest days, he could just read a football game.

“At Ipswich Jets training I saw him do some incredible things. He would do opposed sessions against the Queensland Cup Jets team as a 15-year-old and the first graders couldn’t get their hands on him.

“The Broncos have let a lot of good players slip the net to other teams over the years. I don’t know how hard the Broncos tried to keep him, but Sam simply believed he would get a better footballing education at the Roosters.

“Sam can honestly be anything in the game. He will bring the NRL back to the days when great playmakers like Allan Langer, Johnathan Thurston and Andrew Johns played on instinct.

“As fans we are crying out for natural playmakers. Sam has the ability to be as good as those three in my eyes with the way he plays, but he has a long, long way to go to achieve what those guys have in the game.

“Sam has more talent in his little finger than I did in my whole body and I played State of Origin.”

Sam Walker has impressed for the North Sydney Bears, and is ready for the next step up. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Walker takes his first steps to NRL stardom on Sunday against the Warriors. In time, he dreams of emulating Thurston by playing State of Origin for Queensland.

“I’m a Rooster through and through but I’m a passionate Queenslander,” he said.

“Hopefully one day I can play State of Origin, it’s a dream of mine to wear that Maroon jumper at the senior level.

“At the moment, I need to prove myself in the NRL but down the track I have that ambition to represent Queensland. My uncle Chris did it and I would love to follow in his footsteps and I know how proud my family would be if I played Origin.

“Growing up, I’ve been around the game my whole life. My dad and uncle have allowed me to use my vision and since coming to the Roosters, the club has really backed me and allowed me to play what we see.

“I’ve gone to another level being mentored by ‘Robbo’.”

Originally published as NRL 2021: Why Sam Walker chose Roosters over Brisbane Broncos