AFL 2020: Taylor Walker to Port Adelaide move is a ‘ridiculous’ idea

Taylor Walker’s future in football has become a hot topic after a three-disposal game against the Cats — but surely this isn’t the answer?

Taylor Walker gets chaired off after his 200th match by teammates Matt Crouch and Rory Sloane. (Photo by Matt Turner/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Craig Hutchison has built himself into a success by thinking outside the box but even the most lateral footy minds will struggle to picture Taylor Walker finishing his career in a Port Adelaide guernsey.

That was Hutchy’s pitch on Footy Classified last night and at least hear him out before laughing into your morning coffee.

“Now if you weren’t so stubborn, Kane, you’d see the absolute logic in this,” Hutchinson said, while addressing Kane Cornes.

“It’s time for Tex Walker to get out of Adelaide, that relationship has ended. He’s emotionally broken by the last few years.

“Even his efforts (on Sunday) — and he tried his heart out and well done on 200 (games) — didn’t yield a great game of footy.

“He needs the ball kicked to him. He’s not a person that can go and win his own football. Port Adelaide is the fit for Tex Walker in the future.”

When she heard Port, fellow panellist Caroline Wilson cried “oh, no” but Hutchy wasn’t done.

Taylor Walker embraces Patrick Dangerfield after his 200th. (Photo by Matt Turner/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“It might be as a rookie list player, it might be as a late trade in the upcoming draft,” he said. “But he needs good delivery from the running mids, he needs the ball put lace out. He’d be a fantastic insurance policy for Charlie Dixon.

“Everyone seems to want to write 30 year olds off if they’re out of form. We saw with Josh Kennedy at West Coast last year where everyone said he’s at the end of the run and shouldn’t play on and now he leads the Coleman Medal. Ditto, Tom Hawkins, who has added depth to his game at 32.

“With the way the game is evolving, he’s too good a player for someone not to take a chance … he should only go somewhere where there’s a premiership window and (the Power) are in that window.

“He can stay at home in South Australia and play … There’s little to no risk in Port having a go at Tex next year.”

Matthew Lloyd was next to object, saying Walker could hurt the development of young Power forwards Todd Marshall and Mitch Georgiades.

“He doesn’t have to play, don’t forget,” Hutchinson responded. “He could be rookied.”

Lloyd: “What a way to end your career, as a rookie not playing at Port Adelaide.”

Hutchinson: “Lachie Henderson is playing on the Geelong rookie list and ask him in seven weeks if he plays in a flag whether it was worth the pain.”

"It's time for Tex Walker to get out of Adelaide...and Port Adelaide is the fit."

Hutchy has come up with a radical plan to rejuvenate Taylor Walker's career.#9FootyClassified | Watch @channel9 pic.twitter.com/prIUPVnybC

— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) August 24, 2020

At this point Wilson had heard enough.

“I deliberately didn’t interrupt you but that is one of the most ridiculous (comments) you’ve come up with this year,” she said.

“It would be a cultural disaster for Taylor Walker to have to go to the Port Adelaide Football Club. It wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t want to go. He hates Port Adelaide. If he goes anywhere he should go to another team in another state and get a fresh start.”

But Hutchy wouldn’t let it go. “There’s not many teams that are in the premiership window who need an insurance forward. He gets to stay home and play for a team that has a shot of winning it in the next year or two … his time in Adelaide is over,” he said.

Former Port Adelaide player Kane Cornes tried to help Hutchy out saying: “It’s not as ridiculous as it sounds. On the surface you’re like ‘no, I’m completely opposed to it’ but the more you think about it and how reliant Port are on Dixon.”

But Cornes also believed Walker’s contracted salary for 2021 of “$700,000” would be a stumbling block for the Power.