AFL stopped Taylor Walker from playing in pre-season games over racism saga
With Taylor Walker suspended until round 4 over last season’s racism controversy, Adelaide asked the AFL if he could play in pre-season games. Here’s why the answer was “no”.
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Adelaide star Taylor Walker was banned from playing in the Crows two pre-season matches and denied crucial game minutes because of his ongoing racial vilification suspension.
The former captain has also been told he can’t take part in SANFL trial matches, meaning he won’t be able to play a game until he returns in Round 4.
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The Crows leading goal-kicker in 2021 is serving a six-game suspension for racial vilification of North Adelaide’s Robbie Young while a spectator at a Crows SANFL game in July.
He served the first three games of the ban at the end of last season and is rubbed out of the first three rounds of 2022.
The Advertiser understands that the Crows approached the AFL asking if Walker could play in their pre-season matches last month and the club was told he was ineligible.
Interestingly ex-Crow Brad Crouch was able to play for new club St Kilda in last year’s Community Series game despite also serving a two-match ban after he was caught with cocaine in the Adelaide CBD.
Greater Western Sydney chose not to play suspended captain Toby Greene against Sydney in a practice match at Albury two weeks ago, but were unable to select the forward for the official AAMI Community series clash against Collingwood on Sunday.
It is understood Giants co-captain Greene will be able to take part in a VFL practice match in a fortnight.
The matches Walker was ineligible for were an unofficial practice match against Brisbane at Metricon Stadium last month, in which the Crows had to field a weakened team because of a Covid-19 outbreak at the club, and the Community Series clash with Port Adelaide at Richmond Oval on Saturday.
The Advertiser understands that the Crows were eager to expose Walker to some match practice ahead of his return to matches.
The Crows declined to comment when contacted by The Advertiser, other than to say that Walker was training strongly in his return to play, while the AFL also declined to comment when approached.
Other players serving suspensions have also been able to play in pre-season games in the past.
Walker is also unable to play in SANFL trial games.
“In line with the AFL’s sanctions, Taylor Walker is not permitted to play for the Adelaide Football Club’s SANFL team in any official pre-season trial matches or home and away matches until his sanction is served,” a SANFL spokeswoman said.
He was the runner when the Crows SANFL side took on North Adelaide.
The 31-year-old was the Crows top goal kicker in 2021 with 48 before he copped the suspension.
He has again had a good pre-season for the Crows but it is now unclear if he will be able to return to the senior side in Round 4 when his ban ends because of a lack of match fitness.
The Crows lost reigning Club Champion Rory Laird for up to six weeks after he fractured his hand against Port Adelaide.
The nature of the third metacarpal fracture in Laird’s right hand means that the Crows have decided that not having surgery will be the best course of recovery for the star midfielder.
Crows didn’t help Walker during racism saga: Cornes
—Graham Cornes
Taylor Walker took everybody by surprise in season 2021. By the end of round 4 Walker had kicked 20 goals and was the league’s dominant key forward.
Adelaide had beaten one of the premiership favourites in Geelong and were sitting comfortably inside the top eight. Even the most one-eyed Crows fans were stunned.
For several years Walker’s critics, of whom there were many, had been predicting his demise as an elite AFL player. The hunger for the contest seemed to be lacking; he didn’t crash the packs like a key forward of his size should, and he’d averaged less than two goals a game over the previous three seasons.
He wasn’t helped by a Crows team that had plummeted to its lowest depths but still, a player of his size and talent has to make his presence felt. In 2020 he kicked a paltry 15 goals — his lowest tally yet — apart from that wretched season of 2013 when he wrecked his knee in round 5.
But in 2021 Walker was a rejuvenated player. He was no longer the captain but the aura of leadership still shone brightly.
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Unfortunately, the fans’ optimism that had prevailed after those first four rounds of the season slowly evaporated. Losing 11 of the next 13 games will have that effect.
But Walker was still contributing — until that moment.
It would be simple if career-defining moments, be they positive or negative, were limited to on-field performances and therefore a reflection of talent and attitude, but in 2021 football at AFL level is more than a sport.
An ill-conceived, thoughtless post on social media can destroy a career with the stroke of a key. So too will public comments that challenge the new order of equality, diversity and inclusion.
Walker’s comments to teammate Matt Crouch as the quarter-time huddle dispersed in a SANFL game were meant for Crouch. However, they were overheard by a club official, who was incensed and not prepared to let them go without consequence.
Unfortunately, that consequence plunged the club into its greatest crisis since the unfathomable murder of Phil Walsh.
The wider public never had the chance to hear the words, but it is a given they were inexcusably racist and, despite an impeccable record and strong connections to Indigenous teammates, Walker’s reputation was immediately trashed and his career threatened.
His culpability aside, the AFL cannot escape without censure here. These matters of racial vilification are supposed to be investigated in-house with confidentiality to all parties. But this one was leaked, further fuelling the perception of a bias against the non-Victorian clubs.
Still, there was no excuse for Walker. Casual racism exists if the words are uttered, whether anyone is listening or not.
Horrified at his own words and attitudes, Walker publicly and privately apologised, but that was never going to appease some elements of the football community or a larger section of the media who operate east of the SA state border.
The Adelaide Football Club didn’t help the issue either. Faced with the dilemma of distancing itself from his comments and supporting the former captain, the club procrastinated, fuelling fears among Walker’s supporters that it might actually sack him. A six-match suspension and a $20,000 fine was the massive penalty handed down by the AFL. It seems excessive, but perhaps emphasises the disappointment after the unprecedented education its footballers receive on issues of racial vilification.
Since he has re-assumed his public life, Walker’s behaviour has been impeccable. His genuine contrition has been supported by his behaviour. A trip to Port Augusta with Indigenous teammates to visit and support local Indigenous communities must have been difficult for him, but he did it gracefully and in good spirits. His commitment to regaining the trust of the wider Indigenous communities has not wavered. Furthermore, he was first on the track when training resumed in November when, as a senior player, he could have had a few more weeks off.
Unfortunately, he still has four matches of that suspension to serve, so he will not figure in the first month of the season, which complicates the Crows’ preparation for the start of 2022.
If there is one area in which the Crows are vulnerable, it is in their forward half. They need a key forward. They need Taylor Walker — the pre-crisis 2021 Walker. Riley Thilthorpe is an exciting youngster who has demonstrated that he can kick goals, but he’s played only 14 games and is still developing.
He’s the Crows’ future, but if he’s the key forward who attracts the opposition’s best defender it will be a long, hard season for him. Darcy Fogarty teases with his potential but is yet to consolidate. Elliott Himmelberg and Billy Frampton have had opportunities as tall forwards, but they have failed to smooth their rough edges or put their selection beyond doubt.
Walker’s enforced absence will undoubtedly give another younger player an opportunity to impress — and in a team that is transitioning from one of the oldest to one of the youngest in the competition that remains a positive, but there is no obvious replacement.
However, there is another aspect to Walker’s presence at the Adelaide Football Club that can’t be measured in kicks, marks or goals — his charismatic leadership.
He truly is a good man with a good heart, which is reflected by the attention and the people he attracts, whether it be on the field or in a room. There’s not a complete dearth of leadership at the Crows with skipper Rory Sloane and captain-in-waiting Tom Doedee, but Walker’s experience and leadership is crucial to a young, developing team.
The 2022 season will be Walker’s 14th as a Crow. He’s been at the club even longer given he was a zone selection at 17. He’s kicked more goals than any other Crows player and led the club heroically through its darkest hour. He’s serving penance for an injudicious, racist remark, and will do so for many years. But he’s not finished as a footballer. And the Adelaide Football Club, despite some initial hesitancy in expressing unqualified support for the former captain, still needs him.
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Originally published as AFL stopped Taylor Walker from playing in pre-season games over racism saga
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