CODY’S RIDE TO A PRELIM
CODY Walker was supposed to make his NRL debut four years ago alongside Cooper Cronk at Melbourne.
Then a fateful injury robbed him, and he waited another two years before cracking first grade at Souths after Luke Keary was suspended.
Now Cronk and Keary form the halves partnership at the Roosters, and Walker’s journey to the biggest game of his career pits him against two men he knows well.
But this journey, the key characters of which are marked on Walker’s wrist before each game, was properly set in motion in 2011.
“I didn’t have a job, I was living in Sydney playing reserve grade for Windsor,” Walker said.
“Nothing was going for me, there was no clear path to where I wanted to go.
“I’d always had aspirations to play in the NRL but probably didn’t want to put the hard yards in.
“Then I found out my partner Nellie was pregnant with our first child and it clicked me into gear. Everything changed at that moment. I knew I had to pull my head in and make something of myself.”
Walker admits his attitude had been poor for a long time.
“I didn’t have the commitment or the mindset to be an NRL footballer,” he said. “We moved up to Brisbane so I could play in the Queensland Cup, and it still took me two more years.”
This was the crucial moment for Walker, after the arrival of son Kian.
“I’d never had a full-time job before, and then I joined Easts Tigers up there, and they got a job lined up for me at the Suzuki warehouse.
“I was training three nights a week and working fulltime, didn’t have a car or licence so I was getting public transport everywhere, getting home at 9pm, all those things took a toll.
“I knew then I didn’t want that life; working during the day and training at night.
“I wanted to be a professional player.”