WALKER’S RECOVERY GAINS PACE
AFTER a nightmare off- season when he underwent five operations, Sea Eagles star Dylan Walker has taken some big steps forward this week on the road to recovery.
The 2017 Dally M centre of the year had his first run in four months at the club’s Narrabeen headquarters on Wednesday.
For about 20 minutes he was running 50m sets at a slow, easy pace which marked a significant moment in his rehabilitation program.
“It was getting used to the mechanics again but it is going well,” Walker ( pictured) said.
“It was good to get out on the grass and do some rehab running.”
The footy break was anything but a holiday for Walker who had two operations on the ankle he dislocated while playing for the Prime Minister’s XIII in Papua New Guinea last year.
He also underwent shoulder reconstruction surgery and that was followed by an operation on his neck to remove a stone that had blocked his salivary glands.
An infection set in after the stone was taken out and Walker had to go under the knife again two weeks later – for the fifth time.
“The neck was the most frustrating one because the infection started to infect my shoulder and ankle,” Walker said. “But once that all got cleared up from the second operation, it’s been up from there and I’ve felt better and better.
“It’s good to finally get into some training now and doing the things I have been used to the last couple of years.”
Through it all, Walker constantly replayed in his head that he would come back fit, healthy and strong.
“I had to work a lot on my mind over that little fourmonth break; I had to stay positive,” he said.
There had been suggestions that Walker would return to the field in Round 4 of the NRL but he said no date had been locked in.