For months, we’ve heard the hype around Roosters teenager Sam Walker.
On Sunday against the Warriors, the talk will subside and the 18-year-old Queenslander will have to walk the walk.
It’s a path he’s more than ready for according to James Tedesco, who revealed how the Roosters debutant stood up in front of his teammates – littered with premiership-winning stars and Test football regulars – and told them: this is how we are going to play.
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Walker has been thrust into the limelight after Luke Keary and Lachlan Lam were injured in the Chooks’ derby loss to South Sydney.
But rather than being overawed by the occasion, the rookie stood up in front of the squad and looked to inspire the injury-hit Roosters.
“He actually got up and told us how we were going to play, he presented in front of our team and for an 18-year-old to do that it takes some courage,” Tedesco told SEN.
“We’re all excited to have him on board and we know it’s going to be hard to do what Keary’s done for us, but we’re excited about him developing and becoming our man this year.”
Walker is tipped to partner Joey Manu in the halves, with Drew Hutchison likely to make a move to hooker against the Warriors.
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The loss of Lam and Keary – to a season-ending ACL – has hit the Roosters’ premiership hopes hard.
But Tedesco believes Walker is more than capable of filling the void.
“It’s devastating for us and for Luke, no one wants to have a season-ending injury and we came in on Monday a bit down,” Tedesco said.
“But we sort of tried to flush it as best we could and get excited about having Sam Walker come in.
“I know there’s a lot of excitement that’s built up about him, he’s such an awesome player and he’s been training the house down in the pre-season, he’s got his opportunity a bit earlier than we thought.”