Former Crows skipper talks fatherhood, pre-season and a potential position change
Former Adelaide captain Tex Walker has spoken about his first week of fatherhood, coming into another pre-season and a suggestion of a potential positional change.
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Former Adelaide Crows captain Tex Walker has suggested he could play a similar role to Matthew Richardson in his final years at Richmond, out on the wing.
Walker, who became a dad for the first time last week, jokingly suggested to Mark Ricciuto and Chris Dittmar on Triple M Adelaide the idea came from “a dream”.
“I had a little dream over the past five days,” he said.
“We’ll see how we go.
“I’ve dropped a bit of weight, about 3-4kg, so I’m sitting at 101kg now.
“It’s an idea, but I’ve got to speak to (new coach) Matty Nicks about that first.”
The Crows have an arsenal of young forwards to pick from, and Walker said he’d be easily replaced if he were to move up to a new position.
“Fog (Darcy Fogarty) will play again, Elliott Himmelberg, Billy Frampton, there’s a lot to choose from,” he said.
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The Crows announced on Tuesday they would be going into 2020 without a senior assistant coach and Walker said it can be a good thing.
“I did have a chat to him about that, he decided to go by himself and put a bit more onus on the assistant coaches,” he said.
“We have great assistants and I look forward to seeing those guys blossom even more and putting a stamp on the club.
“‘Nicksy’ could have a senior figure he leans on externally.”
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The Crows’ first to fourth year players returned to training today, but Walker is excited about one player in particular.
“Reilly O’Brien is a freak,” he said.
“He’s looking really fit.”
While the young Crows get stuck in today before the older players return on Monday, Walker will be helping wife Ellie look after newborn son, Hugo.
“We had five nights in Ashford Hospital, the nurses were the best,” he said.
“A Broken Hill lady delivered Hugo, and her brother lives directly across the road from us, so it’s a small world.
“We got out of hospital on Tuesday, he’s feeding and sleeping really well.
“I can’t stop looking at him.
“I was holding him and I looked down at the clock and 40 minutes had gone.”
Walker also said Ellie is travelling well following the birth.
“She’s tough as nails,” he said.
“I don’t reckon I got over 30km/h driving home, I got a few beeps and a few birds, but I was just being cautious.”
Originally published as Former Crows skipper talks fatherhood, pre-season and a potential position change