{"id":478908,"date":"2026-02-14T06:13:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T06:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478908\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T06:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T06:13:24","slug":"not-usual-practice-wafl-icon-elevated-to-legend-status-in-afl-hall-of-fame-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478908\/","title":{"rendered":"“Not usual practice”: WAFL icon elevated to legend status in AFL Hall of Fame – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Swan Districts and WAFL great Bill Walker will be elevated to legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame in Melbourne on June 9.<\/p>\n

Walker played 305 games in the WAFL, including 21 appearances for the state. He is a four-time Sandover medallist, the only man in history to achieve the rare feat.<\/p>\n

Walker is also a five-time best-and-fairest and three-time premiership player.<\/p>\n

He will toss the coin at Saturday’s State of Origin revival between Western Australia and Victoria.<\/p>\n

“I have had a wonderful time in football and loved the game for as long as I can remember. It’s a great, great honour, and I was a bit lost for words at what to say when he came to visit to tell me,” Walker said.<\/p>\n

AFL<\/a> Commission Chair Richard Goyder said he was thrilled to endorse Walker’s elevation to legendary status.<\/p>\n

“Bill Walker was an incredible player, one of the greatest in West Australian football history, and I’m delighted to announce the AFL<\/a> Commission has endorsed the recommendation of the Hall of Fame selection committee that he be elevated to legend status later this year,” AFL<\/a> Commission Chair Richard Goyder said.
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“We have made this announcement today so that Bill can be celebrated tomorrow and through the course of the season.<\/p>\n

“It is not usual practice to announce a legend elevation before the induction ceremony but, with the eyes of the football world on Perth this week for an Origin game, we felt it appropriate that the wider footy community be able to celebrate Bill’s incredible career and legacy for the coming season.<\/p>\n

“As a Carnival All Australian<\/a> in 1969 and first rover in the Swans’ Team of the Century, Bill was simply an incredible player who could find the ball, deliver it impeccably, and he was deadly up forward, with 456 goals in his time at the top between 1961-76.
\u00a0
“By any definition, he is a legend of Australian Football.”<\/p>\n

Walker will become the 34th legend in the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Bill Walker’s career record:
305 games for Swan Districts 1961-76, 456 goals
21 games for WA, 29 goals
1965, 1966, 1967, 1970 Sandover Medal
1961, 1962, 1963 premierships
1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970 Best and Fairest
1967 Simpson Medal
1969 Carnival All Australian<\/a>
1969-75 Captain
1969-71 Coach
Swan Districts Team of the Century (First Rover)
Legend, WA Football Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

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