Cody Walker (rugby league)

Cody Walker (born 10 January 1990) is an Indigenous Australian and state representative professional rugby league footballer who plays as a five-eighth and fullback for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL.

Cody Walker
Personal information
Born (1990-01-10) 10 January 1990
Nowra, New South Wales, Australia
Height179 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Playing information
PositionFive-eighth, Fullback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016– South Sydney 103 45 10 0 200
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017 Country NSW 1 0 0 0 0
2019 New South Wales 1 0 0 0 0
2019– Prime Minister's XIII 1 1 0 0 4
As of 10 July 2020
Source: [1]

He played for Country NSW and New South Wales in the 2019 State of Origin series and the Prime Minister's XIII.

Background

Walker was born in Nowra, New South Wales, Australia. He moved to Casino, New South Wales at a young age[2] and is of Indigenous Australian descent - from Yuin and Bundjalung people.[3] He attended Palm Beach Currumbin High School[4]

Walker is the younger brother of former Penrith Panthers player Ryan Walker[2] and cousin of Gold Coast Titans player Shannon Walker.[5]

He played his junior rugby league for the Casino Cougars, before being signed by the Gold Coast Titans on a 4-year contract.[2]

Playing career

Early career

In 2009 and 2010, Walker played for the Gold Coast Titans' NYC team.[6]

In 2011, he followed his brother Ryan to the Penrith Panthers and played for their New South Wales Cup team, the Windsor Wolves.[2] In 2012, he joined the Eastern Suburbs Tigers in the Queensland Cup.[7]

After impressing in the 2012 season, he was invited to train with the Melbourne Storm in the 2013 NRL pre-season,[8] before returning to the Titans for the 2013 season.

On 17 July 2013, he played for the Queensland Residents against the New South Wales Residents.[9] At the conclusion of the 2013 season, he won the Queensland Cup's Best and Fairest award as well as topping the competition for points scored.[5]

In September 2013, he signed a 1-year contract with the Melbourne Storm starting in 2014.[10]

Walker playing for the North Sydney Bears in 2015

On 17 June 2014, he signed a 2-year contract with the South Sydney Rabbitohs starting in 2015.[11]

In 2015, Walker played for the North Sydney Bears in the NSW Cup. With Walker in the side, Norths made the finals series at seasons end. Walker collected two awards for his contributions winning Best & Fairest and Players player at Norths' end of the year presentation.[12]

2016

In Round 1 of the 2016 NRL season, Walker made his NRL debut for the Rabbitohs against the Sydney Roosters, at five-eighth.[13][14] He was one of the most influential players in his side's 42-10 win at Allianz Stadium. Whilst in that match, he was filling in for the suspended Luke Keary, an injury to halfback, Adam Reynolds saw Walker maintain his position. In Round 5, Walker scored his first career try against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the Rabbitohs' 16-12 win at Brookvale Oval. Despite multiple strong performances for Souths, Reynolds' return in Round 7 would push Walker out of the line-up. In Round 11, Walker was brought back into the side at the surprise position of fullback. Despite having never played the position since his teen years, he managed to set-up and score a try in his team's 34-24 win over the St. George Illawarra Dragons.[15] Afterwards, on 1 June, he re-signed with the Rabbitohs on a 2-year contract.[16] However, it was later revealed that he never put pen to paper before the Rabbitohs made the announcement, leaving the contract up in the air.[17] In July, he officially signed a 3-year contract with the Rabbitohs until the end of 2019.[18] He finished the 2016 season playing 20 games, scoring 8 tries[19] and making 12 try-assists.

Walker in 2017

2017

Walker was named in the Rabbitohs squad for the 2017 NRL Auckland Nines.[20] On 1 May 2017, Walker was named in The NSW Country representative side to take on The NSW City representative side in the last ever City vs Country game. Walker alternated between Five-eighth and Fullback throughout the year as the Rabbitohs struggled to cope with a season ending injury to Captain Greg Inglis in the opening round of the season. Walker finished the year playing all 24 games and not missing a single minute. He scored 6 tries while topping the Try Assists (18), Line Breaks (16) and Line Break Assists (20) charts for all Five-eighths.

2018

Walker played every game for Souths in 2018 scoring 12 tries as the club finished third on the table and qualified for the finals. Souths went on to reach the preliminary final against arch rivals the Sydney Roosters but lost the match 12-4 at the Sydney Football Stadium in front of a ground record crowd of 44,380.[21][22]

2019

In Round 5 against the New Zealand Warriors, Walker scored 4 tries as Souths won the match 28-24 at the Sunshine Coast Stadium.[23] On 27 May, Walker's good form at club level earned him selection for New South Wales against Queensland in the 2019 State of Origin series. Following New South Wales defeat in Game 1, Walker was one of the players dropped from the team for Game 2 by coach Brad Fittler. Walker was also one of the New South Wales players who refused to sing the Australian National Anthem before the start of Game 1.[24][25][26]

Walker made a total of 25 appearances for Souths in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished third on the table and qualified for the finals. Walker scored a try in the club's elimination finals victory over Manly-Warringah at ANZ Stadium. Walker played in the club's preliminary final defeat against the Canberra Raiders at Canberra Stadium. During the first half of the game, Walker failed to ground the ball over the line, knocked out of his grasp by a try saving tackle from Canberra player Josh Hodgson.[27][28][29]

On 30 September, Walker was named at 5/8 for the Australia PM XIII side. On 7 October, Walker was named in the Australian side for the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s. On 18 December, Walker signed a contract extension to remain at South Sydney until the end of the 2022 season.[30]

2020

In round 12 of the 2020 NRL season, Walker scored two tries for Souths as they defeated St. George 32-24 at Kogarah Oval.[31]

Controversy

On 22 May 2020, Walker was given a two-match ban by the NRL and also a $15,000 suspended fine after a video emerged of Walker kung-fu kicking a man who was involved in a fight with another person. The video was recorded in December 2019 but it only became public knowledge after one of the men threatened to blackmail Walker for $20,000.

South Sydney were also fined $20,000 for not informing the NRL of the incident.[32]

References
  1. "Cody Walker - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 10 January 1990. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  2. Michael Carayannis (22 February 2016). "South Sydney Rabbitohs young gun Cody Walker set to make NRL debut". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  3. "Nocookies". The Australian. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  4. "Arrive alive Cup Grand Final 2008 - Matraville SHS Vs Palm Beach Currumbin - Action Photo Gallery". Ourfootyteam.com. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  5. "Casino's Cody Walker takes out QRL Best and Fairest award". Northern Star. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  6. "W". Nyc Database. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  7. "Walker, Kauffman big winners at Tigers' awards night". Couriermail.com.au. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  8. "Easts duo Thompson and Walker training with Melbourne Storm NRL's top squad during the off-season". Couriermail.com.au. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  9. NRL. "XXXX Queensland Residents team". QRL. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  10. Zero Tackle (11 September 2013). "Walker signs with the Storm". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  11. Rabbitohs.com.au (17 June 2014). "Cody Walker signs with Rabbitohs". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  12. http://nrlportal.com/get-to-know-cody-walker/
  13. "Updated: Round 1 NRL team lists". NRL.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  14. NRL. "Late Mail: Round 1, 2016". Rabbitohs. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  15. "NRL Match Centre 2016". matchcentre.nrl.com. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  16. "Rabbitohs re-sign Cody Walker". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  17. "Contract bungle points Bunny to Broncos". Zero Tackle. 8 July 2016. Archived from the original on 11 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  18. South Sydney Rabbitohs 🐰 [@SSFCRABBITOHS] (12 July 2016). "Cody Walker dropped by Rabbitohs HQ today to put pen to paper on those next three years! #GoRabbitohs" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 February 2018 – via Twitter.
  19. "Cody Walker - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 10 January 1990. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  20. "2017 Auckland Nines squads: Every player named for the tournament". The Roar. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  21. "NRL finals 2018". www.sportingnews.com.
  22. "Souths v Sydney Roosters". www.news.com.au.
  23. "Four-try Walker in a 'league of his own' as Souths run down Warriors". www.smh.com.au.
  24. "Indigenous submission expected by NRL on national anthem boycott". Australian Associated Press. The Guardian. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  25. "The cheeky toddler sledge that helped reunited Blues break bread". Fox Sports.
  26. "Latrell Mitchell dumped as NSW make seven changes for State of Origin Game 2". The Guardian.
  27. "South Sydney Rabbitohs beat Manly Sea Eagles 34-26 in NRL semi-final". ABC.
  28. "Rabbitohs dig deep to eliminate Sea Eagles in finals thriller". NRL.
  29. "Canberra Raiders end 25-year wait to reach NRL grand final with victory over Rabbitohs". The Guardian.
  30. "Walker signs new Rabbitohs deal until end of 2022". NRL.com.
  31. "Hat-trick hero Alex Johnston's telling interview amid South Sydney contract breakdown". wwos.nine.com.au.
  32. "Walker cops two march suspension for fight video". www.foxsports.com.au.
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