Shane Walker (rugby league, born 1978)

Shane Walker (born 1 March 1978) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the National Rugby League for the Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney, mostly in the position of hooker.

For the former St. George, Eastern Suburbs, Balmain, Wests Tigers and Melbourne player, see Shane Walker (rugby league, born 1971).

Shane Walker
Personal information
Born (1978-03-01) 1 March 1978
Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight96 kg (15 st 2 lb; 212 lb)
PositionHooker, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1996–02 Brisbane Broncos 82 5 0 0 20
2003–06 South Sydney 67 4 0 0 16
Total 149 9 0 0 36
Source: [1]

Background

Walker was born in Toowoomba, Queensland. While attending St Mary's High School in 1995, Walker was selected to play for the Australian Schoolboys team.[2]

Playing career

Like his elder brother Ben and younger brother Chris, Walker started playing in the National Rugby League with the Brisbane Broncos. Having won the 2000 NRL Premiership, the Broncos traveled to England to play against 2000's Super League V Champions, St Helens R.F.C. for the 2001 World Club Challenge, with Walker playing from the interchange bench in Brisbane's loss. Walker later moved to the South Sydney club.

In 2019, Walker spoke about his time at South Sydney saying "I went to Souths because Chris was going there. I’d heard how easy it was to get mixed up with the wrong crowd in Sydney. I thought there was a fair chance he could go off the rails… so I went down to help him out. I wasted my time, didn’t I? Ten weeks later he went to the Sydney Roosters".

"I understood the significance of playing at Souths and the history. I recognised that I was lucky to wear the red and green play for Souths. You’d win a game, come up the escalators into the leagues club at Redfern and the place would be packed. The supporters would be in the auditorium and different guys would get up and talk and they’d be whipped into a frenzy. It was wonderful because in that Redfern area there are a lot of battlers. On top of that they fought like hell to get their team back in the comp. There was a lingering memory of that and the thought that perhaps their team might be taken away from them if they didn’t start winning. They were always proud of you – but they wanted a winning team to be happy about".[3]

Post playing

Walker became co-head Coach of the Ipswich Jets who play in the Queensland Cup alongside his brother Ben.[4]

Family

Walker is married to Katie Walker, a former Australian netball player. Their first child, a daughter, Kobi, was born in November 2006.[5][6][7]

Footnotes
  1. "Shane Walker – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  2. "Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League". Sporting Pulse. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
  3. "Legend Q&A: Shane Walker". National Rugby League.
  4. Round 1 Queensland Intrust Super Cup Preview Archived 3 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine rleague.com, 18 March 2011
  5. Chris Walker (22 June 2018). "'They'll just pussyfoot around': Walker's On". qrl.com.au. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  6. "Crying for a chance". The Courier-Mail. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  7. "Netball Origin style as Swifts take on Firebirds". The Courier-Mail. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2021.

Sources


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