It’s beginning to look a lot like 2014 for Dylan Walker, one of only two premiership-winners in the Warriors side pushing to secure a fairytale grand-final berth this weekend.
In total, 18 players contesting Penrith and Melbourne’s preliminary final on Friday night own premiership rings – 13 from the Panthers and five from the Storm.
But on Saturday, only Warriors Walker and Tohu Harris and Brisbane’s Adam Reynolds and Kurt Capewell, will take premiership experience into the grand-final qualifier at Suncorp Stadium.
None of the quartet has won a grand final with their current club.
Walker played centre in South Sydney’s 2014 grand-final victory over Canterbury that broke a 43-year premiership drought for the Rabbitohs.
Brisbane captain Adam Reynolds was the halfback of that team and is preparing to face off with his old mate Walker come Saturday night.
Like those Rabbitohs, the 2023 Warriors are the feel-good story of the season and are hoping themselves to secure a maiden premiership title 29 years since their inception.
And like the 2014 Rabbitohs, this year’s Warriors have stormed into the preliminary final following a fast start and subsequent big win before their home fans.
These days, Walker is a crafty middle forward coming off the bench, but as he prepared for Saturday night he could see the similarities between the fairytales nine years apart.
“Yeah, it’s nice, when you’re coming into training everyone’s got a smile on their face,” he said.
“The foundations are very strong.
“We’ve got a great forward pack, a good bench and then our outside backs are just making the right decisions.”
The Warriors secured their first preliminary final since 2011 with a monumental 40-10 defeat of Newcastle at home last week.
The 26,083 that turned out marked the Warriors’ biggest home crowd in Auckland since the 2007 finals series.
A similarly heaving sold-out crowd will pack into Suncorp Stadium for the Broncos’ first home final in five years.
“For us last week it was controlling that emotion with the crowd, this week is going to be no different but we’re on the other end of it and we have to be up for it,” Walker said.
“As a footy player you want to play in these games, you want to feel these atmospheres. It’s going to be no different.
“I just feel like whoever’s emotionally up for it is going to get the job done.”
Walker is relishing the chance to help plot the downfall of Payne Haas, Tom Flegler, Patrick Carrigan and the rest of the Broncos’ middle forward unit.
“In big games I feel like the forward pack that dominates is a good chance of going on to win,” he said.
© AAP
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