Teenage halfback Sam Walker spent 2020 tackling Boyd Cordner and Angus Crichton in brutal opposed sessions as he prepared for his NRL debut with the Sydney Roosters.
The 19-year-old Walker is now poised to be named in the halves for Sunday’s NRL clash with the Warriors, after star halfback Luke Keary was sidelined for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.
It’s tough timing for Walker with the Roosters in the midst of an injury crisis with Lachlan Lam expected to miss four to six weeks with an MCL injury, joining Keary, Cordner, Jake Friend and Adam Keighran on the sidelines.
Without Keary steering the ship many have written off the Roosters for the premiership but Josh Morris and James Tedesco have backed “gun” Walker to deliver.
“Don’t write us off yet,” Morris said on Monday.
“We’ve spoken about Sammy Walker and the talent he’s got; you’ve got to remember a lot of these guys didn’t play football last year but they trained against the first grade side week in and week out.
“Sammy had blokes like Boyd Cordner and Angus Crichton running at him.
“Since then he’s put on a lot more size and he’s a lot more confident in his football.
“He handled it really well, he’s not afraid.
“He gets his body in front and for a young fella that’s what you want to see, you don’t want to see them avoiding the contact you want to see them embracing it.”
With Walker at halfback, the Roosters are expected to name Drew Hutchison at No.6 as a replacement for Lam, with the former Dragons five-eighth having played just 15 NRL games since his debut in 2015.
Tedesco said even with the inexperience in the halves he expects Walker to make the transition to the top grade easily, having been in hot form for the Roosters’ feeder side North Sydney.
In three games for the Bears Walker has laid on five tries and six line-break assists.
“He’s a gun, he trained really well in the pre-season,” Tedesco said.
“He’s obviously young and he’s going to take a bit of time he knows he’s inexperienced but he’s a footy player.”
Walker’s fellow teen Joseph Suaalii is also an option to get the call up from the Bears for his NRL debut.
Tedesco said while he hasn’t watched a lot of reserve grade this year he backs the 17-year-old Suaalii to handle the physicality of the NRL if called on.
“I haven’t watched much of the Bears but physically he’s definitely ready, he’s a specimen,” Tedesco said.
“Even just watching clips of his defence and attack, he doesn’t look out of place at all.”