Walker ‘ready to toe the line’

SORE captain Taylor Walker says he expects to be “pretty much fully recovered’’ when Adelaide starts its finals campaign against GWS next Thursday.

The ace key forward was withdrawn from the Round 23 loss to West Coast on Sunday to rest a sore big toe that he hurt against Essendon three weeks ago. By the time he runs out against the Giants, he would not have played a game for 26 days.

Walker hopes the extended break will allow him to be “pretty much fully recovered and ready to go’’.

“It’s good,’’ Walker said of the toe that has been more sore after matches than during them. “I needed to take a couple of steps back to proceed on. Obviously we’ve got finals coming up so it’s a big four weeks for us as a footy club.

“I discussed it with Pykey [coach Don Pyke] and the best thing for me as an individual was to rest on the weekend and get ready for finals. It [the toe] is feeling a lot better.’’

Walker, whose 49 goals this season is equal most at Adelaide with Eddie Betts, denied he had been carrying the toe injury longer than when it was damaged after an Essendon player fell on him during the club’s 43-point triumph at Etihad Stadium.

“When you get a 100kg bloke landing on the back of your foot it definitely hurts,’’ he said. “The Etihad deck is pretty hard too but I’m going well now.’’

Walker was highly critical of his team’s season-ending six-goal loss to Sydney in last year’s semi-finals but is convinced it has improved.

“I’m fully confident we’ve got all three facets of our game — attack, contested ball and team defence — in a great spot going into the finals.”