{"id":117221,"date":"2025-09-04T03:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T03:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/117221\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T03:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T03:04:17","slug":"taylor-tex-walkers-home-town-celebrates-favourite-sons-300th-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/117221\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor ‘Tex’ Walker’s home town celebrates favourite son’s 300th game"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Taylor “Tex” Walker can help deliver a premiership for the Adelaide Football Club in 2025, it would not be the first time he has stood up when it is needed most.<\/p>\n

Walker plays his 300th AFL game on Thursday night in a qualifying final blockbuster against Collingwood at the Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

But in 2007, Walker lit up a grand final, on a slightly more humble stage, in his home town of Broken Hill.<\/p>\n

\"Six<\/p>\n

Taylor Walker (left) was best on ground in the 2007 Broken Hill grand final as a 17-year-old. (Supplied: North Broken Hill Football Club)<\/p>\n

Sporting a proto-version of the mullet he would make famous in the AFL, the then 17-year-old Walker kicked seven goals to take North Broken Hill to the AFL Broken Hill premiership.<\/p>\n

His long-time friend Jayden Kelly said that despite his impressive junior career, it was still a surprise to see a “skinny boy from Broken Hill” make it in the big time.<\/p>\n

“I thought he’d go quite well and play a lot of SANFL games, but didn’t think he’d do what he’s done now and play 300 games in the AFL,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Jayden Kelly (right) has been a star player for North Broken Hill.\u00a0 (Supplied:\u00a0Helen Grossi)<\/p>\n

That same year, he was drafted to Adelaide as pick 75 after signing a New South Wales scholarship contract at age 16, linking him to the Crows.<\/p>\n

When his mate headed to Adelaide to start his professional career, Mr Kelly travelled with him.<\/p>\n

“He’s still the same larrikin he was, a smart-arse kid back from when he was little going to school in Broken Hill,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Taylor Walker stayed in Broken Hill until he was drafted. (Supplied: Gavin Schmidt)<\/p>\n

“That’s probably one of the best things about him, he’s one of the most loyal and honest blokes you’ll ever meet.<\/p>\n

“He’s never forgotten where he’s come from, and he’s always been that jovial, happy kid.”<\/p>\n

A giant impression<\/p>\n

Walker made his debut in round one of 2009, when he kicked a goal against Thursday night’s opponents, Collingwood.<\/p>\n

When he made his debut, fellow Broken Hill product and now teammate Isaac Cumming<\/a> was just 11 years old and also playing for North Broken Hill.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Taylor Walker with future SANFL player Kobe Mutch and future Adelaide player Isaac Cumming. (Supplied: Gavin Schmidt)<\/p>\n

He said every young footballer in town looked up to Walker.<\/p>\n

“I reckon I was about 14 or 15 when Tex came back in his off-season \u2026 and from there our relationship really started in those sessions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If you look at my decision to come to the Crows from the Giants, I’d probably say he was 70 to 80 per cent responsible for it.<\/p>\n

“The thought of playing with someone I looked up to as a kid and am mates with now from the same local football team in Broken Hill is something that I couldn’t really ignore.”<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

Taylor Walker and Isaac Cumming both grew up playing for the North Broken Hill Bulldogs. (Supplied: AFC Media)<\/p>\n

Another North Broken Hill product, AFL 200-gamer, premiership player and assistant coach Dean Solomon, said Walker had been able to blend his “larrikin” personality with the commitment required to reach 300 AFL games.<\/p>\n

“What the AFL environment does do to you, it’s so intense and if you are seen to be a bit of a larrikin, it can be frowned upon to a certain point that you’re not taking your career seriously,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone I’ve spoken to and heard from says he works incredibly hard on his craft and his game, but he’s still had the perfect balance of being himself.<\/p>\n

“Still being the country Broken Hill boy, he’s proud of that, and having real balance in his day-to-day and knowing when it’s time to work hard and when it’s time to be yourself.”<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

Taylor Walker’s career has spanned several iterations of Adelaide teams, outlasting legends like Rory Sloane. (Getty Images: Sarah Reed)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Taylor “Tex” Walker can help deliver a premiership for the Adelaide Football Club in 2025, it would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9126,60225,64,63,12551,54886,82937,85,82938],"class_list":["post-117221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adelaide-crows","tag-adelaide-football-club","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-rules-football","tag-broken-hill","tag-regional-football","tag-sports","tag-tex-walker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}