Why Crows veteran Taylor Walker should play on next year | Andrew Capel

Any uncertainty about whether Adelaide’s greatest goalkicker and oldest player should play on next year have been erased after Friday night’s performance, writes Andrew Capel.

Play it again, Tex!

Any questions about whether the Adelaide Football Club’s greatest goalkicker – and spiritual leader – should play on next year, when he will turn 36 early in the season, should have been erased at Adelaide Oval last Friday.

In the pulsating, finals-like clash against Hawthorn, Taylor “Tex’’ Walker showed he is not only still capable of playing a key role for the Crows, he can still be a matchwinner.

In four minutes in a tense last quarter played in front of a sellout crowd, he kicked two crucial, high-pressure, set-shot goals that secured the four points for Adelaide and probably its first minor premiership since 2017.

The 297-game veteran stood up big time under the heat of battle.

With his side clinging to a five-point lead 21 minutes into the final term, Walker unleashed a 50m bomb from an angle before four minutes later sealing the deal with a 45m deadeye-dick shot from just inside the north-eastern boundary line.

Adelaide’s Taylor Walker celebrates one of his match-sealing goals against Hawthorn. Picture: Ryan Schembri/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Not too many other players would have so coolly slotted both shots, highlighting Walker’s importance to the Crows, even in the twilight of his stellar career.

“There aren’t many (players) who can kick comfortably from outside 50m and they were massive kicks, they were impactful kicks when the game was on the line,’’ Australian Football Hall of Fame legend Jason Dunstall said of Walker’s late heroics.

Walker’s matchwinning exploits in the big moments put an exclamation mark on the key role he still has to play in coach Matthew Nicks’ side and should have ended any debate about whether he still has what it takes to be part of the Crows’ plans for 2026.

“He’s still got it and should play on next year, definitely,’’ Port Adelaide premiership ruckman Dean Brogan told ABC Grandstand.

“To be able to still move the way he is and still to be so good at ground level, at his age, is a real credit to him.

“He’s still so important to the Crows, which he showed again against Hawthorn when he took those late marks, told everyone to calm down and then went back and kicked those two long goals, which everyone knew he was going to kick. He’s still an incredible player.’’

Taylor Walker boots one of his long-range goals in the final quarter against the Hawks. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Broken Hill boy Walker is already Adelaide’s all-time leading goalkicker, having booted 675 goals since debuting in 2009.

This is a whopping 235 more goals than high-flying Crows cult hero Tony Modra, who kicked 440 in 118 games for the club from 1992-98 before joining Fremantle.

Walker has won Adelaide’s goalkicking award a club-record seven times – in 2011, 2012, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 – and currently is the ‘wise old head’ of the Crows’ much-vaunted three-headed forward line monster, along with superstar tall Riley Thilthorpe and last year’s top goalkicker Darcy Fogarty.

Walker has kicked 34 goals in 19 games this season, missing only the Round 12 clash against bottom-placed West Coast when he was rested.

He has kicked goals in 17 matches, including multiple hauls 11 times, with season-best tallies of four against North Melbourne and Gold Coast in Rounds 4 and 5.

At 35 and in his 17th season of AFL, he no longer has to be the key focal point in attack – that role now belongs to fearsome man mountain Thilthorpe – but the icing on the forward line cake.

Taylor Walker fends off the tackle of Hawthorn’s Jai Newcombe during Adelaide’s 14-point win at Adelaide Oval. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Crows teammate Isaac Cumming, who joined Adelaide as an unrestricted free agent from Greater Western Sydney at the end of last year and also hails from Broken Hill, lauded Walker’s influence in Adelaide’s rise to prominence this season after seven years without finals.

“The footy he’s playing for a 35-year-old is absolutely insane,’’ Cumming gushed.

“I seriously hope he plays on (next season) and if he keeps playing the way he is he’s probably got another two (years) in him.’’

Cumming said Walker’s influence extended beyond his on-field heroics.

“On field, you can hear him from a mile away, he sets the boys up so well,’’ Cumming said.

“He’s just one of those players who when you run out with you just walk a bit taller, knowing that he’s there.

“Off field, there’s no secret what kind of bloke he is. He’s a larrikin who loves being around the boys.

“But, equally, he is so caring and would do anything for anyone. He’s a much-loved player at the club – for good reason.’’

Talking to Fox Footy after the victory against Hawthorn, which propelled the Crows to top spot with three minor round series to play, Walker spoke of his love for the game and how he is trying to enjoy every moment.

Taylor Walker celebrates kicking a crucial final quarter against Hawthorn. Picture: Ryan Schembri/AFL Photos via Getty Images

King of the kids: Taylor Walker celebrates with fans after the Crows’ thrilling win against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“It’s the best game in the world and I just have so much passion for the game, I love kicking, I love marking, I just love all the small stuff, I love smelling Deep Heat,’’ he said.

“I have this sense of gratitude because I just don’t know when it’s going to end, I suppose all good things do come to an end at some stage, so I’ve just got to keep enjoying every little bit of the journey that I have left.

“Whether that’s the end of this year, I don’t know when it is, but I’m going to keep enjoying it and the boys are making it pretty easy for me, being the oldest at the club.’’

Walker’s form is certainly worthy of another season.

But there is one caveat for the former Adelaide captain, who was skipper in the club’s last grand final appearance in 2017.

If the Crows’ remarkable rise from 15th last season to first this year culminates with an unlikely flag, capping one of the biggest turnarounds in VFL-AFL history, would Walker consider going out on top, just like Hawthorn’s Shane Crawford did in 2008 and Brisbane’s Joe Daniher did last year?

It would be a fairytale ending to a fabulous career.

NUMBERS GAME

32

Adelaide’s deficit against Hawthorn before winning by 14.

153

Points conceded by Port Adelaide against Geelong – the most in Ken Hinkley’s 13-year reign as Power coach.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“To do that in a finals-like atmosphere, against an opposition that was finals standard and had all the momentum, it was an incredible effort from our guys.’’: Crows coach Matthew Nicks on his side’s comeback win against Hawthorn.

“I have no doubt and great confidence that as bad as the back end of the year is starting to feel like for us, that there is a bit of a rainbow up there and there’s something at the end of that, that we’ll be okay and when the team moves forward next year it’ll be alright.’’: Power coach Ken Hinkley after the 88-point loss to Geelong.