2 days Ago By Kane Cornes
Taylor Walker grew up in Broken Hill with the dream of being a one-club player with the Crows. After 16 years as a heart-and-soul image of the Adelaide Football Club, that dream needs to be brought to an end by senior coach Matthew Nicks. Taylor Walker’s form this year has not been anywhere near what he produced in 2023.
Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images Then Walker needs to decide if he does indeed want to be a one-club hero or find an encore at Collingwood, Melbourne or Geelong or any other club that becomes linked to the key forward. Nicks needs to make a tough call. So does Walker.
This is not the first time Walker has been tested on his childhood dream to be a Crow and only a Crow. Only last year we were told Walker was willing to finish his career at another AFL club if Adelaide chose not to re-sign him. Once again, there is this image of the Walker camp loading the agenda to pressure Adelaide into talks on a new deal.
The Crows should stare down Walker’s threats and inform him that this season will be his last at their club. But Adelaide has not had a ruthless image since Malcolm Blight arrived at the end of 1996 and culled the club of its senior players. Nicks is not Blight.
He is a lovely person, a genuine nice guy, but he needs a hard edge. The decision last year to allow former captain Rory Sloane to extend his career – even though it was obvious to all that Sloane was not in Adelaide’s best 22 – tells of Adelaide lacking that ruthless edge at lost mana.
