The Roosters halfback is contracted until the end of 2027 but could hit the open market next year.
Sam Walker’s father Ben and uncle Shane have put their hand up for the Gold Coast coaching job, in a move that could have implications for the future of the Roosters halfback. Sunday’s loss to the Broncos means the bottom-placed Titans are mathematically out of finals contention and coach Des Hasler’s job is under massive threat.
Hasler has a clause in his contract allowing the Titans to sack him if he misses out on the top-eight this season, with Sunday’s 26-14 defeat to Brisbane ending any hopes of finals footy in 2025. Despite widespread reports that Hasler is on borrowed time on the Gold Coast, the under-siege coach said after the loss to Brisbane that he wants to remain at the club next year and see out his contract, effectively putting to bed any talk of retirement.
Walker brothers keen to take on Titans coaching job
But News Corp reports that the Titans have received numerous applications from prospective coaches, with the common belief that someone else will be in charge of the team in 2026. The same report says the Walker brothers – who coached Ipswich to the club’s first and only Queensland Cup premiership in 2015 – are keen to take on the role and have guaranteed they would bring success.
I am absolutely certain we would win a premiership at the Titans,” Ben Walker said. “It’s a job Shane and I have always wanted because there’s a lot of similarities between the Titans and the Ipswich Jets, who had the lowest budget in the league when we won the Queensland Cup.”
The Walker brothers took over as coaches of the wooden-spoon Ipswich Jets in 2011, before guiding them to five consecutive finals series before their breakthrough premiership in 2015. Their teams are renowned for playing an attractive and enterprising brand of footy that league Immortal Andrew Johns has spoken highly of in the past, and they were previously interviewed for the Titans role in 2017 when Garth Brennan ultimately got the job.
Brennan only lasted 18 months after leading Gold Coast to the wooden spoon, but a succession of coaches have followed and also failed to deliver sustained success for the club. However, the Walker brothers have no NRL head coaching experience and cut ties with Ipswich at the end of 2019. The club hasn’t played finals footy since.
While they might be considered outsiders for the Titans coaching role if Hasler is shown the door, the ace up their sleeve is undoubtedly the relationship with superstar Roosters No.7 Walker. The Titans are in desperate need of an elite playmaker, even more so after former premiership winner Kieran Foran announced he was retiring after this season.
Sam Walker’s father Ben would love to coach him at Titans
Sam Walker fits the bill in terms of a quality No.7 that could bring finals footy to the star-studded Gold Coast side and the 23-year-old is the type of player the club could build its future around. Walker is contracted with the Roosters until the end of 2027, meaning he could hit the open market on November 1 next year.
His father Ben has already spoken about wanting to coach his son in the NRL and the desire to emulate the successful father-son duo of Ivan and Nathan Cleary at the Panthers. Ben admits that landing the Titans job would not guarantee they can also land his son, but it’s an enticing prospect that has left some Roosters fans fearing for the future of their classy No.7.
Look, Sam loves the Roosters and I can’t guarantee he leaves there if we got the Titans job,” Ben Walker added. “But I’ve always been envious watching Nathan and Ivan Cleary winning premierships together at Penrith and I’d love the idea of me and Sammy doing that at the Titans, for example… but if I’m at the Titans, Sam Walker is a halfback I’d be trying to get.”
Upon hearing the news that Ben and Shane want to bring Sam to the Titans if they get the job, Roosters fans were quick to express concerns. “I hope they don’t ‘steal’ Sam Walker from our Sydney Roosters,” one person wrote on social media.