NRL Finals: Sam Walker is ready to propel Sydney Roosters into preliminary final

Mark Molyneux

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NRL Finals: Sam Walker is ready to propel Sydney Roosters into preliminary final image

Sam Walker has always appeared to be freewheelin’. Ever since breaking into the NRL, the halfback has been scurrying around the pitch looping long passes out to his strike weapons and jutting in behind exhausted defensive lines with the type of carries which are usually reserved for players a fair few weight classes above him.

The 21-year-old plays with the type of youthful exuberance which generates comparisons to the prototypical ‘backyard footy’ merchant: one who isn’t afraid to chance his arm and risk everything to gain something.

Sam Walker is ready to propel Sydney Roosters into prelim final 

After his career was seemingly stuck on warp-speed since debuting, this season has brought with it plenty of adversity. As part of a dysfunctional Roosters attack, Walker was dropped during the early stages of the campaign.  

Trent Robinson maintained it was a short-term measure with a rotation of cast members auditioned for the halves role in his place. Joey Manu, Drew Hutchison and Sandon Smith were all paired with Luke Keary, as the dropping of Walker evolved into what was essentially a banishment.  

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Then came the knee injury that rendered him unavailable during a time when the coach would undoubtedly have turned to him as the Chooks continued to languish in mid-table obscurity halfway through the year.

Walker was finally reinstated in the side after overcoming his troublesome injury in Round 26. It marked his first game in the NRL since he was dropped after Sydney’s 22-12 loss to Cronulla in Round 7.

He has presided over three successive victories, while scoring two tries and setting up two four-pointers in that time. Walker has also nailed the game-winning field goal to complete his redemption arc last week when the Roosters beat the Sharks 13-12 in an elimination final.

The Roosters don’t do standard finals fixtures. Instead, they plunge head-first into the chaotic and the scarcely believable.

Last year, they went toe-to-toe with arch rivals South Sydney in a match which resembled more of a back-alley knife fight than a finals fixture.

On that day, players were seemingly trapped on an invisible escalator which escorted them off the field at regular intervals as referee Ashley Klein almost contracted tennis elbow from the sheer number of times he lifted his hands skyward to signal another 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

Against Cronulla, the animosity had been dialled down a few hundred notches, but Roosters players remained transient.

James Tedesco was sent to the bin for a professional foul after Joseph Suaalii had been ruled out for displaying delayed concussion symptoms in the sheds at the break, while Joey Manu had pulled up lame moments earlier with a hamstring injury he just can’t shake.

The remaining Roosters were strapped into a carousel and revolved around Shark Park at a dizzying rate.

In just three of many alterations, Angus Crichton slid into the centres, Siua Wong did the same thing, and Billy Smith – who it was later revealed suffered a fractured jaw but kept on playing – moved onto the wing.

MORE: Sydney Roosters rising star Siua Wong reflects on incredible rise in rookie season

"There’s not much thinking on the field, I don’t think," Walker laughed when asked to reflect upon the headspace he and the rest of his teammates were in as troops went down all around them.

"You’re always just trying to catch your lungs. In the game, it all just sort of happens and you keep rolling with it and don’t think too much about it."

The fluidity in the Roosters’ attack is gradually emerging out of the mire which they’ve been bogged down in for much of the year.

To even get to the semi-final stages, where they will play Melbourne, is somewhat of a surprise. They have stared the end of their season right in the eyes for close to two months now.

The Roosters have lived with this knowledge that a loss will label the glamour club a failure of epic proportions each and every week recently, yet they have found a way to keep winning.

"It was a tough performance and a very gritty one [against Cronulla]," Walker said.

"It’s one we sort of based our season on. We’ve had a lot of stuff go wrong and there have been a lot of reasons to tap out, but the club just won’t do that.

"The boys keep finding a way and this is about our seventh week of finals now."

Despite the high stakes on Friday night, don’t expect Walker to approach the meeting with the Storm any differently to how he has in his other 55 first grade appearances to date.

He will be there floating around in the layers of the Roosters’ attack, looking for pressure points upon which to exploit with a cheeky chip-and-chase or a trademark rainbow pass out to the touchline.

The season has been a challenging one for Walker, but the time spent away from the spotlight has allowed him to submerge himself within the intricacies of the game more than ever before.

He has spent long days dissecting tape and identifying ways upon which to improve in between bouts at the gym where the only thing he could really do was hit the weights.

Walker’s carefree nature out on the field may never truly subside but the textured voice of experience and confidence may soon emerge as the young gun looks to morph into an elite halfback who can lead his side to premiership glory. 

Mark Molyneux

Mark Molyneux Photo

Mark Molyneux is a freelance writer covering the NRL and UFC for Sporting News Australia. He has previously worked in the music industry and as a teacher around the world.