Has the AFL world overrated Taylor Walker?

[Jbudds]

Kurt you too could have been hyped if you had stayed in Adelaide.. but you chose to go "home" to Sydney.

Are you upset that Tex's career has gone upwards gaining the captaincy (hence representing our club regularly in the media), whilst your career has gone South, like your balfours adds...

Do you remember Kurt referring to Tex as "his little mate" on Fiveaa?

 

[sonnywalters]

I have been saying this for two years and noone has been listening.
Walker is no good. He is an old fashioned kick and mark man. He was deplorable in last years finals. When the ball hits the groundd he is entirely useless.
If he drops a mark he doesnt even bother to stay in the play.
The complete opposite to Buddy.
The only reason people think Walker is good is because they have been sucked in by Ch 7 and 9 who hype him up just because they like saying his s**t nick name ('Tex').
Walker is a massive over hyped hack.
Dont believe the hype and dont be sucked in by the media and Sam Newman.
He is no good.

 

[sonnywalters]

tex could kick 30 goals in a season and would still be of huge value. pretty handy when he attracts the best defender allowing Betts, Lynch, Gov and Cameron to get off the chain.

Pfft.
He is useless when the ball is on thr ground - which is 90% of the time.

 

[Pilchard_Adams]

Walker may never have an AA and may never win a Coleman. He is a part of a forward line which includes 3 players who can kick 60 goals in a season. Then Otten/McGovern (whichever is playing) capable of 40, as is Lynch. Cameron as well, could possibly kick 40 this season. Not many teams have such an even spread of goal kickers. If Walker was playing 10 years ago when Adelaides forward line contained Perrie and Welsch, he could have kicked 80 or more easily.

Fact is only a small percentage of forward attacks go to Walker, and he plays outside 50 for a large amount of the game. Often he is delivering it, not taking the shot. So judging him on his goals only is silly, he isnt just a goal kicker like the FFs of old.

 

[CrowsB4hoes]

Tredders had 4 AAs as well.

Yeah, I didn't include him because at this stage, Tredders is in a league above where Walker sits. The others though are also AA's but feel as though Tex should end his career thought of as a better player than those listed.

But he needs to put a full season together. Started this one off well, dropped off the last few weeks.

 

[demondavey]

Has to make some AA's if he's going to be remembered alongside Franklin, Kennedy, Cameron.

Looking back, most decent big forwards had an AA berth.

Hall. Money. Gehrig. Tarrant. Neitz. All made AA and I'd put Walker ahead of them.

You'd put Walker in front of Hall, Gehrig, and Neitz? You checked their stats? Wait until his career is over before you put him in front. You're dealing with some genuine superstars there mate.

 

[VictorianCrow85]

I think one thing you need to keep in mind with someone like Tex is where and when he's kicking some of his goals. I've lost track of how many goals he's banged through from outside 50 at critical periods in matches that broke them open for us. Yep he's not the best forward in the game, has his moments that leave me scratching my head too but he's still very worth having in the side. To be honest I don't know that he's overrated, I don't hear people talk him up like players like Rance, Franklin, Martin, Dangerfield etc.

 

[sobrave]

But how is his forward pressure?

i dont think ive seen him lay a tackle since he suplexed steve morris a few years ago

 

[GreyCrow]

i dont think ive seen him lay a tackle since he suplexed steve morris a few years ago

13 tackles this year

 

[ThirtyThr33]

You'd put Walker in front of Hall, Gehrig, and Neitz? You checked their stats? Wait until his career is over before you put him in front. You're dealing with some genuine superstars there mate.

Don't get me wrong, Neitz and Gehrig were big scary KPFs who were good players but I'm not sure I would of called them superstars.

 

[hippyhippy]

Lol not even top 10

You'd put him infront of riewolt? Or maybe ask rance how he went on walker?

As long as crows are winning i dont think anyone cares. Crows just need to keep kicking 140 plus every week and we'll be happy.

 

[hippyhippy]

To be fair, no one really gets hyped up in Sydney.

Just an observation based on a recent trip to Adelaide (listening to local radio stations, The Advertiser etc), his apperances on the Footy Show, the way commentators speak of him like a modern great.

No doubt Walker is a good player. And I would love to have him at the Swans. But given the hype mentioned above and the high proice tag he would command, I just don't think he justifies his reputation. And that isn't his fault - he can't help the way he is portrayed by the media who love to pump the tyres of players

Conpared to what swans are paying some of their players. .. he'd be loose change.

 

[mattymac]

Unselfish.

The key point in Tex's career was Phil Walsh taking over as coach. Walsh's mantra was "team first" and Tex fell for it hook line and sinker. Started spouting it at every opportunity. It was seriously getting tedious in interviews. But it actually changed his game.

He became really focused on bringing his team mates into the game. The blokes around him have grown in stature as a result and now we have a pretty well oiled forward line built out of fairly modest raw materials. Most of that is due to Tex (and Eddie) being obsessed with that team first mantra from Walsh.

That's why he is number 1 in the league for assists. And it's not just assists, it's all the work he does to attract spares and drag defenders out of position and create space for our other forwards to work in. You can keep your selfish forwards

 

[Pilchard_Adams]

Yeah, I didn't include him because at this stage, Tredders is in a league above where Walker sits. The others though are also AA's but feel as though Tex should end his career thought of as a better player than those listed.

But he needs to put a full season together. Started this one off well, dropped off the last few weeks.

If Walker was playing along side forwards like Dew, Pickett, Cockatoo Collins I am pretty sure he would have AA honors by now too. In the years Tredrea made AA, only once did a fellow Port player kick 50 goals in a season and that was Dew with 51. Not bagging these players as they were all serviceable, but Betts, Jenkins and possibly even McGovern are better than the Port forwards mentioned in relation to goal output

 

[schmuttt]

Has to make some AA's if he's going to be remembered alongside Franklin, Kennedy, Cameron.

Looking back, most decent big forwards had an AA berth.

Hall. Money. Gehrig. Tarrant. Neitz. All made AA and I'd put Walker ahead of them.

Walker has not been better than Neitz or Hall. I like Tex and do rate his leadership and ability to stand up under pressure, but Hall was a better CHF than Walker and Neitz whilst more of a classical FF played the first few years of his career as a gun CHB (Was picked in the 1995 AA team when he was playing defence I believe). They've got 6 AAs, 8 60+ goal seasons, a Coleman medal and two B&Fs between them. Walker has one 60+ season and that's it, he may achieve a lot more in the next 5 years but right now they are a league above him.

 

[feenix67]

There's only one team that has 2 players in the top 10 in the Coleman - Adelaide with Betts and Walker. Walker is the only one of that group to have played less than 10 games.

So he's 9th in the Coleman and 8th for average Goals per game (in a team with more players inside the top 50 in the Coleman than any other), 1st in both average and total goal assists. Do you think there's any correlation between these numbers and Adelaide's ranking as the highest scoring team this season?

Do you even football?

 

[feenix67]

Walker has not been better than Neitz or Hall. I like Tex and do rate his leadership and ability to stand up under pressure, but Hall was a better CHF than Walker and Neitz whilst more of a classical FF played the first few years of his career as a gun CHB (Was picked in the 1995 AA team when he was playing defence I believe). They've got 6 AAs, 8 60+ goal seasons, a Coleman medal and two B&Fs between them. Walker has one 60+ season and that's it, he may achieve a lot more in the next 5 years but right now they are a league above him.

Comparing career stats with Walker (to date), Hall and Neitz - Tex has Neitz covered in every stat and pretty line ball with Hall.

 

[schmuttt]

Comparing career stats with Walker (to date), Hall and Neitz - Tex has Neitz covered in every stat and pretty line ball with Hall.

Neitz played as a stay at home FF and spent his early years behind the ball. I'd rather rank achievements and how I saw them as players than trying to compare stats from a time when the game was completely different.

 

[40porpoise]

Unselfish.

The key point in Tex's career was Phil Walsh taking over as coach. Walsh's mantra was "team first" and Tex fell for it hook line and sinker. Started spouting it at every opportunity. It was seriously getting tedious in interviews. But it actually changed his game.

He became really focused on bringing his team mates into the game. The blokes around him have grown in stature as a result and now we have a pretty well oiled forward line built out of fairly modest raw materials. Most of that is due to Tex (and Eddie) being obsessed with that team first mantra from Walsh.

That's why he is number 1 in the league for assists. And it's not just assists, it's all the work he does to attract spares and drag defenders out of position and create space for our other forwards to work in. You can keep your selfish forwards

This.

Definition of team player. He's even stated before that he doesn't rate his game based on goals kicked.

Will never be a Coleman medal winning superstar, but he would be my first picked player in a grand final on the G. Big presence, clutch player, and makes everyone around him better.

 

[marty36]

I have been saying this for two years and noone has been listening.
Walker is no good. He is an old fashioned kick and mark man. He was deplorable in last years finals. When the ball hits the groundd he is entirely useless.
If he drops a mark he doesnt even bother to stay in the play.
The complete opposite to Buddy.
The only reason people think Walker is good is because they have been sucked in by Ch 7 and 9 who hype him up just because they like saying his s**t nick name ('Tex').
Walker is a massive over hyped hack.
Dont believe the hype and dont be sucked in by the media and Sam Newman.
He is no good.

I think teams should just leave him be as he isn't that good the real stars are JJ and Otten, Tex is actually a decoy. Should be playing their best players on them

It's working a treat as we clearly have the best forward line in the league as we kick the biggest scores on average every week

Yep tex is a dud but to get these enormous scores every week we have the real superstars kicking all the goals, credit to Pyke on the decoy tactic


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[BlackSwan0512]

Riewoldt is a far better player and it's not even close. Two All Australians (should be three), two colemans, best and fairest. He is better in almost every category

Astbury was playing on walker for the majority of the game but I could have kicked 5 playing in the crows forwardline that day given how easy the ball was coming in

Can't quite believe how people would have Walker ahead of Riewoldt.

Riewoldt has been one of the best forward's of the last 10 years and a consistent Top 5 contender in the Coleman. He also spends just as much time up the ground as Taylor so I don't buy the "one plays FF the other plays CHF" argument. Is also just as good as Taylor in big game's - his long range goal on Saturday night at a crucial time proved this.

If anything, Riewoldt is underrated.

 

[demondavey]

Don't get me wrong, Neitz and Gehrig were big scary KPFs who were good players but I'm not sure I would of called them superstars.

David Neitz kicked 600 goals mate, played 300 games, and was captain of our club. When Taylor Walker has played over 300 games, kicked over 600 goals, made 2X AA teams, and won a club B&F, come and talk to me......

 

[Crows4Eva]

Tex doesn't stand out as much because he plays in a forwardline full of guys who can kick 4+ on any given day.

Guys like Franklin, Riewoldt, Kennedy and so on only stand out so much because they're an obvious superstar in an otherwise 'meh' forwardline.

 

[King_Steele]

Has to make some AA's if he's going to be remembered alongside Franklin, Kennedy, Cameron.

Looking back, most decent big forwards had an AA berth.

Hall. Money. Gehrig. Tarrant. Neitz. All made AA and I'd put Walker ahead of them.

Wow. You have no idea.

I suppose you've got McGregor & Perrie ahead of Lockett & Carey.

 

[BlackSwan0512]

Tex doesn't stand out as much because he plays in a forwardline full of guys who can kick 4+ on any given day.

Guys like Franklin, Riewoldt, Kennedy and so on only stand out so much because they're an obvious superstar in an otherwise 'meh' forwardline.

Kennedy - Darling and Le Cras are regular contributors. Both have had 40+ goal seasons
Franklin - Roughhead/Rioli and before that Williams
Riewoldt - I concede Riewoldt doesn't have the same competition as Taylor but this means that he is often double or tripled teamed whereas Taylor has the luxury of playing 1:1