Losing valued utility Dylan Walker mid-season has left NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster pondering the balance of his interchange bench for the remainder of their 2025 NRL campaign.
Walker, 30, has been granted an early release from his contract to return to Sydney, rejoining his family, who left Auckland eight months. He has already left to take up a contract with Parramatta Eels for the rest of the season.
During his two-and-a-bit seasons at Mt Smart, the former Kangaroos and Origin representative logged 46 games, usually coming off the bench as a ball-playing forward. With his ability to play second row, hooker, half, centre or fullback, Walker's versatility was a useful asset that will go sorely missed now.
"I think we're one passer down, one middle forward who passes the ball a lot," Webster admitted. "Dylan is obviously very creative with that.
"Obviously very experienced and played a lot of footy, but I always look for the good in any situation and this allows younger guys to play more minutes, more footy, and we'll adjust.
"Our halfbacks will have to step up and touch the footy more - they won't have Dylan bringing them onto the footy - but we have some young guys who can pass the footy and they'll now have an opportunity to do that."
Webster has previously agonised over the balance of his bench, whether to add versatility, include a specialist back or beef up the rotation with more hard-running forwards. Walker covered all of those options.
Dylan Walker was as valuable off the field as on it. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
"I just think we're going to play a slightly different way and when that bench comes on… I think our bench, including Dylan, have done a great job defensively."
Webster has a variety of players who can fill multiple positions - second-rowers Kurt Capewell and Marata Niukore have played centre at Origin or international level, while fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has also featured everywhere else in the backline for the Warriors or Kiwis.
Probably the closest remaining player to Walker's Swiss-army-knife skillset is lock Erin Clark, who began his career in the halves, then moved to hooker, before morphing into his current role.
Webster admitted Walker would be missed as much off the field as on it.
"Dylan had a big part in our culture, where we wanted to make rugby league fun," he said. "When it came time to switch on, we wanted to have that focus and energy around it, so he had a big impact on that.
"He was probably one of the better players I've seen with the balance between footyhead and talking tactics, and enjoying it.
"Really happy that he gets to go home and be with family. Obviously, disappointed that we've lost him, but really excited about the future of our kids and how much time they will get to develop.
"In two-and-a-half years, they've learned a lot from him and he's passed the baton onto them now."
Warriors chief executive Cameron George admitted Walker had hoped to extend his contract past this season, but ultimately, family came first.
Dylan Walker in action for the Warriors against the Dolphins. Photo: NRL Photos / www.photosport.nz
"He had a couple of chats the last couple of weeks, and it just got tougher and tougher to the point where his boys wanted him home," George said.
"One of our true values of this club is they're humans before footy players and anyone who's a parent would appreciate the importance of that."
He was philosophical about losing another player on "compassionate grounds" before the end of their contract, so soon after star front-rower Addin Fonua-Blake left a season early to join Cronulla Sharks.
"You can say it's frustrating, but the reality is we've had three players come our way in the last couple of years," George said.
"James Fisher-Harris came home on compassionate grounds, Erin Clark likewise and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, so it works both ways.
"It's more apparent here, because in Sydney, you've got nine clubs, so you can change to eight other teams without moving. Here, if you're not settled for whatever reason, you have to move back to Australia to keep working.
"In Sydney, you just don't see players move from club to club on compassionate grounds - it just doesn't happen."
On Tuesday, Walker was named in his usual No.14 jersey for the weekend's visit to West Tigers. His imminent departure for Parramatta was announced the next morning.
"Behind the scenes, I've seen a million of these things fall over, so we had every intention for Dylan to play this week, but if he didn't, we had a Plan B," Webster said.
Teams are required to name a 22-man game day squad that gets whittled back to 19 24 hours out and 18 one hour before kickoff. Webster will reveal Walker's replacement on Saturday.
The Eels visit Go Media Stadium in the regular season's penultimate round on 29 August.
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