The guy that is alw
He was released last year
More hype from our recruitment team who failed to last even one year
Walker latest recruit for new look team
Jon Geddes, Manly Daily
September 14, 2015 4:59pm
THE Sea Eagles have once again gotten under the guard of rugby by signing another outstanding young player from the rival code.
Former St Augustine’s College student John Walker was earmarked for a big career by the Australian Rugby Union and had trained with the Australian Sevens.
He will join St Joseph’s College fullback Tom Wright at Manly as part of the club’s rebuilding campaign. The talented duo will share digs on the northern beaches.
Walker, 18, hails from Scone. He came to St Augustine’s in Year 10 on an ARU scholarship and played representative rugby for NSW.
But just before the Australian Schoolboys competition last year, he broke his ankle.
At the end of last year, he was drafted into the Australian Sevens program and the Waratahs under-20s before hurting his ankle once more.
“I was in the end of my recovery program when I got a call from Scott Fulton asking if I wanted to have a run with the Sea Eagles,” Walker said.
Sea Eagles recruit John Walker.
“It just came out of nowhere.”
Walker, who played league as a youngster, decided to give it another crack despite giving up the chance Sevens offered of travelling the world.
“With the injuries and all the time I had out, I started losing interest in rugby and I just needed a new fire, so I decided to give league a go,” he said.
Walker will start training with the Sea Eagles’ NRL squad under new coach Trent Barrett in early November and is expected to play second row and centre.
Meanwhile, new Sea Eagles hooker Matt Parcell lived up to the hype by scoring an amazing five tries for the Ipswich Jets in their 44-18 win over Brisbane Easts in a Queensland Cup semi-final on the weekend.
In his
Manly Daily column on Saturday, Peter Peters wrote that big things were expected from the 21-year-old, who will be involved in a tussle for the No.9 jumper with club stalwart Matt Ballin and Penrith recruit Apisai Koroisau.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...m/news-story/c4dd134940168f81f7bdb4d2bd7157a5