Interview With Guy Walker - Pro Cricket and AFL Prodigy, But Retired By 24

After bursting onto the scene as one of Australia's most promising young fast bowlers, Guy Walker's sporting career was cruelly snatched away from him after he suffered a number of life changing injuries. His career took him to the highs of playing in a World Cup in Dubai and the Big Bash as well as to the AFL, but by the time he was 24 he was forced to step away from his dream. Guy now hosts The Athlete's Diaries Podcast, which can be found by clicking here or on Youtube.

This is an exclusive interview with Guy Walker, where he bares all about his sporting journey, including the highs and lows he went through and the amazing people he met along the way.

As a multi talented athlete growing up, what made you decide to pursue cricket over other sports?

Guy Walker: I was the typical kid in Australia playing Cricket & AFL all year until I had to make a choice at 17. I chose cricket after receiving a contract offer from the Victorian Bushrangers. It was a difficult decision but at the time I was travelling around with the Australian U19's and had a world cup coming up in Dubai and I thought the opportunities in cricket to take me around the world was one I couldn't turn down.

Your dad also played cricket professionally. Was there ever any expectation for you to step into his shoes?

Not at all. My dad played for Nottinghamshire which is where I was born. He didn't ever really talk much about his cricketing career as he had to retire at 24 years old with a severe finger injury. I actually didn't realise how good he was until I played a season back in Nottingham and some of his old teammates said he was that good of a keeper that he would have played for England. 

I feel like dad's that played [cricket] professionally know how difficult the game is mentally and that you need to learn your own lessons. So, when I asked for help dad was there but when I didn't ask for it, he would usually let me work it out for myself. 

I unfortunately see too many dad's now try to live through their child's shoes and it puts too much pressure on them. The game is hard enough when you are putting yourself under pressure let alone someone else.

How did you react when, at 17, you got called up to represent Australia U19s in a series against New Zealand?

The feeling of getting called up to the Australian U19's was amazing as a 17-year-old. I remembered having a back-stress fracture from 16 to 17 and was only slowly getting back into it. I won the player of the championships at the U17 national championships and I was added to the national academy. From there the Australia U19 squad was picked. The first series in New Zealand was incredible. To get another taste of underage international cricket was awesome. I got to play with some current Australian players and against some New Zealand players now too.

How did it feel to sign your first professional contract with Cricket Victoria?

Signing my first contract was pretty surreal. It was towards the end of a series with the Australia U19's and I was getting ready to head back to Aus and get ready for a big year of AFL. I remember getting an email from the Victorian talent manager and couldn't believe it. One of the craziest moments of my life. All the work I'd put in had paid off.

You played at the 2014 U-19 World Cup. What was it like playing in a major tournament on the world stage and which of the current Australia crop did you play alongside?

Playing in the World cup was crazy. Again, I was coming back from another back stress fracture and just passed the fitness tests. To be honest I was a little underdone but still it was an amazing experience. Playing in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for 6 weeks and making the World Cup semi-final was incredible, was just a shame we came up against a handy bowler called Kagiso Rabada that took 6 against us haha.

We had a strong side, I opened the bowling with Billy Stanlake and we had batters like Ben Mcdermott, Jake Doran and think we even had Jhye Richardson.

The likes of Kagiso Rabada, Kuldeep Yadav, Aiden Markram, Kusal Mendis and Mustafizur Rahman competed at that tournament alongside you. Was their cricketing talent as evident back then as it is now?

It's funny looking back now. We played against Kagiso Rabada in a series a few months before and he wasn't great. Wasn't bowling quick, was erratic and in our team meeting I can remember we wanted to target him haha! Next minute he had us 4 fa 20!

Aidan Markram was a good player - solid and you could tell he would be good. We played against Mustafizur but I honestly can't really remember him bowling. Mustn't have showed a hell of a lot but look at him now - an absolute star.

In 2015 you got the opportunity to play in one of the biggest cricket leagues in the world, The Big Bash, and you bowled to Chris Lynn, one of the greatest white ball cricketers of all time. What was it like to play in such a huge competition and what was going through your mind bowling to such a giant of modern cricket?

Playing that first game was incredible. Only a few months before I was recovering from another back stress fracture and luckily enough for me the Melbourne Renegades had one spot left on their list and David Saker (who was the coach at the time) kept an eye on my fitness and offered me the last contract before the deadline. I remember warming up at the Gabba before the game in front of 30,000 fans (mostly all Brisbane Heat) and I was pumped but nervous at the same time. We bowled first and I remember standing in the tunnel waiting to come onto the ground and captain Aaron Finch turned to me and asked, "Are you nervous?" and I said, "Yep, sure am" and he goes, "good, so am I". 

As you know I got smacked that game. Chris Lynn hit me for 3 sixes in my last over. It was such a strange game individually for me. My first over in the powerplay went really well - my last ball I had Llendl Simmons dropped on the boundary and to make matters worse the fielder knocked it over for 4 too. So I could have had 1 fa 7 but instead had 0 fa 11 in my first over. Then Chris Lynn came out for my last 2 overs and that didn't go so well haha!

Throughout your career you were hampered by injuries. What led to you deciding to retire from professional cricket and how devastated were you making that decision?

My career was definitely hampered by injuries. I lost count of the back stress fractures and hotspots I had. Funnily enough what ended me was a shoulder which I never struggled with during my career. My last proper game was that Big Bash debut in 2015. I felt something odd in my shoulder but carried on as I never had a problem with it before. I then went on to have 3 shoulder surgeries and eventually finished playing cricket. I knew having so many bad shoulder injuries, my good shoulder too would make it hard to return. I had no confidence in it either that I could return to bowling fast and throwing so I thought it was an ideal time to code swap.

You switched to playing Aussie Rules Football professionally shortly after. How easy was was the switch from one sport to another and how bad had your injury problems become when you retired from AFL?

Transitioning to AFL was great for me, I was injury free and got to move to a sport I loved as a kid and always wondered how far I would have gotten so to be given this opportunity was one I wanted. To cut a long story short, I ended up with something called Suprascapular Neuropathy where I now have 40% left of my right shoulder and had to immediately retire from all sport at 24. 

I actually didn't realise how serious my injury was. I trained on for a few months and didn't tell the doctors how bad I really was. You may find that bizarre, but when you've missed 3 years of professional sport and how much fun it was to be actually training and fit again you can realise why. It got to a stage where I would wake up every night in excruciating pain, worse than the day after a shoulder reconstruction. The injury was so rare that all the physios and doctors didn't realise what it was until I saw the neurologist. The meeting went like this: "Guy, I've read your MRI scans and unfortunately it's not good. You will have to retire from all sport immediately and you will be left with 40% of a shoulder for the rest of your life at best".

What's the reality of being a professional sport person? Is it all blood, sweat and tears or a dream come true?

For me, it was a dream come true. I lived out my dream not only as a professional cricketer but also AFL. Unfortunately though, it didn't work out and I spent 95% of my career injured. It's a tough place to be when your injured, you miss out on the camaraderie but your job security is insanely volatile.

It's an amazing time of your life and there are so many benefits but unfortunately there are some negatives too, and people don't see them because they're not so sexy. I always tell athletes to have a plan B because look at what happened to me. 19 and never had a shoulder problem to 4 shoulder surgeries later, injured every day and retired at 24.

Throughout your cricketing career, who were the biggest stars you were lucky enough to meet and what were they like in real life?

There were a lot of amazing players I got to share a dressing room with. The one I always get asked about is Chris Gayle, I think because there's so much mystery about him people want to know about him. He's actually a really nice guy; he would stay back in the room after a game for ages taking photos with fans. Of all the players I was lucky enough to share the dressing room with I still to this day have never met a better cricket brain than Cameron White, the knowledge he had of the game was incredible.

What were your best, worst and most embarrassing moments on a cricket pitch?

It's hard coming up with moments when most of the time was spent on a physio bed! But a moment that sticks out was probably the U19 World Cup quarter final when I was on a hattrick early and knocked over Nicholas Pooran. Worst was my BBL Debut and most embarrassing was also my BBL Debut. It's how I am now remembered, the bloke that got smacked in his debut which is frustrating as I could never get fit to rectify that.

How did you decide what to do next after retiring from professional sport and what gave you the inspiration to start the Athlete's Diaries?

I wanted to be able to show the stories of the athletes that have been incredibly brave and done it tough in their careers to get to where they have. From mental health issues to injury and so many other things. It's a side in sport we don't get to hear about because it's not glamorous. But it's real and it's so powerful listening to someone like Will Pucvovski who has broken so many records and about to make his test debut. But he has had to go through some tough times like a lot of society do. It's what makes people feel even more engaged with Will because they know what he has gone through to get to the top.

Listen to Guy's brilliant interview with Will Pucvoski here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K90q2Mnier0

I have loved every minute of sharing these incredible athletes and people's stories to show that yes, professional athletes go through the same everyday problems a lot of people go through. 

To be honest, I still don't know what I want to do. I wanted to be an athlete until 35 but that's life. I'm still figuring it out and struggling with it. It's my honest answer, it's not sexy; I didn't make $2 million out of my career, I haven't come out with a cushy job. I am still trying to work it out and that's why I think people can relate to me and The Athlete Diaries.

Finally, what's the most important thing that playing professional sport has taught you?

The most important thing professional sport has taught me is work hard but celebrate your small wins. We never know when something is going to end so enjoy your life. Don't live to work. Read books, learn new things, practise gratitude - there's people out there doing it a lot tougher than us. Find those people and help them. It will give you more meaning and purpose and help you be grateful. It sounds very spiritual but it's actually not. Ask yourself what is my meaning and purpose in life. That's all we have. We can't take our money into the grave. Live a life you want to live and not what people think you should live.