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RIP Robert Walls

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Great article written by Sheehan in the Herald Sun.

Would love to see the club's social team post a tribute to him. Nothing yet.

He really did the hard yards when the Bears were a laughing stock and brought through half the premiership side as kids, Voss, Lappin, Aker, Scott brothers, and more.
 
Great man who got me into footy and I don't think the Lions win 3 in a row without him.

Voss
Akermanis
Lappin
Ashcroft
Hart
Leppitsch
Lynch
C Scott
Keating
White
McRae

All on the list while Walls was at the club.

RIP to a great man!!!
 
The Fairfax papers are putting out some of his old articles.

This one is well worth a read, for what it says about the writer and the 2003 Grand Final.
 
A great coach, who lead the Roys to one of their last serious finals campaigns (83) and was instrumental and in turning the Bears around and creating the foundations of the 01-02-03 GF success.

Was prepared to call a spade a shovel, he told it like it was.

In memory or Walls this weekend, I suggest we play our struggling forwards , Charlie Cameron, in the ruck :oops:
 
It always felt like when he was commentating on our games in the early 2000s he was still holding a grudge.
Maybe he felt like he was hard done by. Given we made the 8 in 1996, he probably was. He built a core of our 3peat list and without that we don't win a premiership during that period.
RIP Wallsy
 

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RIP
Remember him playing for Fitzroy and then coaching us.
Always shattered he swapped with Parkin.
Did not have luck in a few finals or things be different.

Bears where my second team so was happy to see them with Wallsy as well.
Always loved him as a commentator as well

Very sad news
 
When Robert Walls came to Brisbane it was the beginning of the journey to being a real AFL team(no disrespect to the previous coaches)Here was a man who had done it all. Premiership player, premiership coach. He demanded the best from his players. He didn’t have much in the way of facilities or available talent but he dragged the whole club kicking and screaming into a new era. We are forever in his debt
 
The coach of Fitzroy when I fell in love with the Lions as a kid. A terrific player and coach and, in what seems rare these days, excellent on air as a former player. Sad to hear such a legend had to suffer so much.
 
Such a big loss. One of the most admired in our game for what he achieved.

I was very young when he was at Fitzroy but he did such amazing job at the club and unfortunately in 83 when we were as good as anyone - we got injuries at the wrong time. Hawthorn very lucky to beat us and then went onto win GF by 100! Worth remembering Wallsy was only 31 when he started coaching at Fitzroy. Everyone involved at the Roys loved him and what he did for the club - deep down I think that was his favourite bunch of players to coach - he maintained such a good relationship with the players long after he left.

No one deserved to win a premiership as coach more than Wallsy. So glad he did that for Carlton in 87. 18 month later the bastards or to be precise John Elliott sacked him after ironically losing to the Brisbane Bears.

That brings us to his time at the Bears. He walked into a shambles of a club., Facilities third rate - playing list third rate. Many would have run. That wasn't Wallsy style. He signed up for the job and though early years were very tough he began to change the club and playing list and got the best out of what he was handed.

By the time he had left the Bears the club had the stepping stones for a bright future - had just played finals for the first time and he had introduced Voss - Leppitsch- Lappin - Chris Scott - got Buckley to play for a year and show everyone what a star he would be. Guys like Shaun Hart ( Norm Smith Medalist) and Marcus Ashcroft could have fallen by the wayside but he played them and they became triple premiership players. Darryl White was another that Wallsy played and played and often gave him tough jobs like the day he played full back on Lockett. He was a teacher by trade and a great teacher of men and they all became better players. It's been said the triple premiership Lions had Robert Walls finger prints all over them and who could argue. He was commentating the Grand Finals and you could sense the pride in his voice.

I really hope the club continues to honour him all weekend - they took far too long to send out a message yesterday! If I had my choice there would be a minutes applause before Sunday's game - that's how much he meant to me and a lot of Royboys and Bears supporters.

RIP Robert Walls and thank you for everything you did for our merged teams - you won't be forgotten.
 
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