Tex Walker, thank you.

Thank you for being yourself, for the on-field chest-out and strut, for the 'Power Ranger' stance in last year’s finals.

Thanks for not forgetting from where you came, for being prepared to say things which leave you wide open to attack.

We love the loyalty that accompanies your every public word and passion for your club, appreciate the vulnerability to which you expose yourself on some of those words.

Thanks for being old school in a new school world.

Really sorry that some confused bloke called you a buffoon last year for how you handled the Jake Lever departure. You didn’t deserve that ridicule for simply being angry at a guy who walked out on you and the club which means everything to you.

Apologies for the pile-on that accompanied your low-impact game in round four this season against Collingwood. It wasn’t good, but it certainly wasn’t lynch-able.

Apologies, also, for the strafing that came after the Grand Final loss last year. Yep, you had a shocker, but there’s not one person in the world who at some stage hasn’t under-performed at a key moment. You weren’t the Crows’ worst, and even all-time greats have put in GF shockers.

Thanks for not taking yourself too seriously when all others do.

As an industry, we’re quick to smash Taylor Walker.

Can’t understand why.

In a world of sanitised, I-must-adhere-to-what-my-club-wants-me-to-say footballers, Walker is a unique point of difference in AFL 2018. A star on the field, publicly accessible off it, honest on it and off it.

Why would people seek to rejoice in his mistakes, pillory him when he errs?

Walker celebrates with teammates after avenging the Grand Final defeat against the Tigers in round two this season. Picture: AFL Photos

In round one this year, Adelaide lost to Essendon. Walker was unable to play because he had had a bad pre-season with knee and foot problems.

For those same reasons, he should not have played round two. But he did, largely because, as captain of a team which had badly lost the 2017 Grand Final to Richmond and then lost to Essendon in the 2018 season-opening match, he felt he had to.

Walker booted four goals in that game in a great win.

The next week, round three, he booted three goals in a win versus St Kilda. In round five, he booted another four goals in a match-shaping performance in an underdog team against Sydney at the SCG.

Glass half full, and we’re honing in on an unfit Walker kicking 13 goals in three wins from four appearances. Glass half empty, Walker’s courage is being questioned when he fumbled in trying to pick up a loose ball in a game in which the Crows unexpectedly lost.

The Walker glass is actually nearly overflowing.

What you see with Walker is what you get. There’s not many people in the AFL in 2018 who can lay claim to that.

When Lever walked out last year, Walker was angry, said he left for money over success. So what.

Walker became seriously agitated with Lever when he knew he was leaving. It caused friction late in the 2017 season. Team meetings were called to deal with the angst.

Lever had a right to leave for Melbourne. Walker, as captain, had a right to be angry, particularly when he was made aware that Lever was bragging about the size of the outside offers.

The Walker-endorsed 'Power Ranger' stance during the national anthems in last year’s finals series? Wouldn’t have been mentioned ever again had the Crows beaten Richmond in the Grand Final, and let’s face it, even if you were in the majority and didn’t like it, it had nothing to do with the actual loss.

The Crows' 'Power Ranger' stance ahead of the 2017 Grand Final. Picture: AFL Photos
1GFAdRi17DT 0275.jpg

Walker’s ordinary performance in the Grand Final in a demoralising defeat will forever leave him open to criticism and haunt him. He knows that, is reminded of it when his head hits the pillow some nights. He gets it.

Dealing with that facet of a life which he has seen him leave Broken Hill as a 17-year-old to pursue an AFL career, which has seen him confronted with the deaths of an assistant coach in Dean Bailey, and main coach, Phil Walsh, who wanted him to be captain when no one else thought he was ready nor capable, are issues which have shaped him.

In that football way, he loved Walsh and the "man conversations" they shared. Would have done anything for him. He wasn’t as keen on, yet still respected, the two Crows coaches before Walsh, Neil Craig and Brenton Sanderson, and has fully embraced Don Pyke.

Sure, he stunk in the 2017 Grand Final. But before you condemn him on under-performing in a big game, remember he kicked four goals (among 63 goals from 19 games in that season) in a five-point loss in the 2012 preliminary final.

Also factor in that, in consecutive seasons, 2016 and 2017, he was voted by his peers as best captain in the AFL. That put him in a club that includes only Wayne Carey, Mark Ricciuto, Michael Voss and Jonathan Brown.

And that he was arguably best-afield in the 2015 elimination final win against Western Bulldogs. Not just for his three goals but his poise in the final significant play of that game when he out-positioned his opponent and drilled a long kick into the hands of Charlie Cameron, who then kicked the match-sealing goal inside the final minute-and-a-half against the Western Bulldogs.

If you want to go way back, to 2011, you’ll have a reason to criticise Walker when he was caught on camera having a beer while watching a game, as a non-travelling Crows’ emergency-listed player, with his Broken Hill mates.

In many ways, that issue captures Walker.

Live the moment. Embrace childhood mates who stick and who don’t care if you stuff up. Be who you are and not who you are told to be by those who only care for image. Have a good time. Don’t take life suffocatingly seriously.