Brisbane Broncos' petty $60 move that ruined any chance of getting Sam Walker back

Sam Walker all but closed the door on a move home to the Brisbane Broncos after revealing last week that he was very close to signing a lucrative two-year extension at the Roosters. But any chance of the star halfback coming home to play for the club he supported as a kid may well have been scuppered by his first proper meeting with the Broncos in 2019 and a $60 Uber ride that helped seal his move to the Roosters.

Both NRL juggernauts were among a number of clubs vying for Walker's signature in 2019, with Wallabies scouts also reportedly interested after watching him play schoolboy rugby for Ipswich Grammar. After being closely monitored and holding discussions with both the Roosters and Brisbane, it was the Tri Colours who the teenage star ended up signing with after a petty move from the Broncos.

Walker was still studying at the time and had to be given permission to postpone an end-of-year exam so he could attend a meeting with the Broncos about potentially joining the club. However, Brisbane requested that the teenage Walker's parents were not present at the meeting and because he didn't yet have a drivers license, Walker was forced to take an Uber from Ipswich to Red Hill.

In contrast, billionaire Roosters chairman Nick Politis flew Walker and his parents to Sydney for meetings with coach Trent Robinson and were much more accomodating to the teenage star. As reported by The Courier Mail at the time, it was the environment at the Roosters and the support he felt from the club that made his choice to snub the Broncos an easy one.

“I’ve made up my mind,” Walker reportedly told his father Ben on the way home from the meeting with the Broncos. “I’m signing with the Roosters.” He later added: “I wanted to go to a club where I could play my best football. I felt there were people at the Roosters, like Trent Robinson, who were there to support me."

Walker quickly burst onto the scene at the Roosters and made the halfback spot his own after the retirement of Cooper Cronk. Despite hitting a rocky patch in 2023 when he was dropped to reserve grade midway through the season, the halfback fought his way back into the team and impressed during their finals campaign.

Sam Walker close to signing $2.1m extension with Roosters

Walker enjoyed a superb season for the Roosters in 2024, racking up seven tries and 21 try assists in 21 games before suffering an ACL injury that ruled him out of the Tri Colours' finals campaign. The 22-year-old admitted the injury is set to rule him out of the first half of next season, but revealed he was on the cusp of signing a two-year extension with the Roosters reportedly worth $2.1 million.

"It's getting closer," Walker said in an interview with 9News Sydney last week. "I'm sure there will be some stuff that will come out soon and (I'm) looking forward to it." Walker's extension will tie him to the Roosters until the end of the 2027 season and is expected to be confirmed in the coming days. It comes as a huge relief to a Roosters side that farewelled a host of stars after the 2024 season, including rugby-bound stars Joseph Suaalii and Joey Manu, plus veteran prop Jared Waarea-Hargreaves.

Roosters teammate Angus Crichton also appeared to let the cat out of the bag about Walker's re-signing, with a telling revelation about the playmaker house-hunting in Sydney. “I don’t have a scoop for you, but I know he’s been looking for properties around Sydney so hopefully that’s a good sign,” Crichton said from Kangaroos camp. “I’m great mates with Sammy. I sort of tried to take him under my wing when he came to the club as a pimply little 17-year-old.

“We’re great mates now and I’m super keen on him sticking around. He’s a crucial part to our team. The way that he plays, you can see that there are points all around him. The kind of stuff that he pulls out on the field, you can’t coach it. The more mature he gets as a half, he’ll get better and better. He’s a massive part of our team moving forward.”

Walker's father Ben and uncles Chris and Shane Walker all played for the Broncos and he's regularly been linked with a move back to Brisbane when veteran halfback Adam Reynolds retires. But it appears the Broncos will have to wait a few more years to have another crack at the playmaker, with his immediate future once again tied to the Roosters.