Dylan Walker is on a mission to change.

He wants to change himself, and change a perception in the minds of others of the kind of man he is.

It took almost losing his career, and a little help from Des Hasler, to put him on the path to turning his life around.

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Round 20

HASLER’S HELP AND CHANGING FOCUS

Ask anyone who has played under Hasler and they’ll tell you he is all-in for his troops.

Walker learned exactly how far that commitment reaches when he was picked up by the Sea Eagles coach from Manly police station in December 2018.

The then-24-year-old had been arrested and charged with assaulting his fiancee. He was acquitted by a court in May.

Hasler sat down with Walker and delivered some hard truths.

The one-time NRL premiership winner and Australian representative was to miss 10 weeks of the season - stood down by the governing body while the court case ran - and was without a contract beyond the end of 2019.

Dylan Walker has fun during a Manly training session. Source: News Corp Australia

His football career, and life, was at a crossroads.

“(Hasler) wasn’t weaving around it or anything, it was just to the point and that’s what I respected most,” Walker told foxsports.com.au of his conversation with the coach.

“Des was straight, clear and direct with what he wanted from me. It just made things easy for me, I knew what I had to do and how I had to do it.

“I just want to show that there’s all different sides to me. I can’t change what’s happened in the past 12 or 18 months.

“I want to let people know I’m not just this hooligan type of kid, I actually want to mean something to the younger generation and inspire someone.

“Whatever that may be and how that comes across I’m not too sure, it’s what I’m going to keep working on. I want to be something that people can understand and relate.

“I’ve done a lot of work on myself, trying to be a better person every day. I guess everyone wants to do that, but there was just parts of me where I didn’t understand about certain things. I thought ‘I can do this or do that, this is my life’.

“Sometimes those things, it can affect people and my family, which it did.

“That was something I needed to address, and really hold myself accountable.”

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Walker was always a talented footballer, but last year he realised rugby league had become his sole focus.

He was neglecting other areas of his life and he didn’t want to be that person anymore.

So he committed to spending as much time tending to his personal relationships and young family as he had done to his NRL career.

“I’ve always been a goal setter with what I want to do, I’ll sit down around January. I’ve always had career goals, but now I have career goals, relationship goals, friendship goals, family goals,” he said.

“Because I never looked at those other aspects in my goal setting, it was always football, football, football.

“I’ve had some good chats to some people here and there, and it’s something I’ve listened to podcasts and stuff.

“Self worth is a big thing. I have to work on myself before I can help others and that’s something I want to do.”

Dylan Walker of the Sea Eagles puts a fend on Damien Cook of the Rabbitohs. Source: Getty Images

REPAYING THE FAITH

Just prior to returning to training to begin the 2020 pre-season, Walker signed a new two-year deal to stay at Manly.

Hasler and the Sea Eagles had always wanted him to stay, and Walker says he never seriously considered leaving the northern beaches.

It wasn’t money, but rather a need to repay the coach and club that had stuck by and supported him when they could have easily cut ties.

“What Des has shown in me, and the club with their faith (in me), and to the fans... I thought I owed it all back to them, and to the players here,” he said.

“(I didn’t want to) turn around and go find a bigger contract somewhere else, I wanted to stay here and enjoy my football, which I am.”

He’s signed the contract and now Walker is intent on improving as an NRL five-eighth.

He was a representative and premiership centre before leaving South Sydney in 2015. He sporadically wore the No.6 for Manly in 2016 and 2018, but was asked to take the jumper full-time last year.

Having played just 31 NRL games in the past two seasons, Walker finally gets to spend an entire pre-season and then season developing as a playmaker, alongside halfback Daly Cherry-Evans.

“Coming into the pre-season it was more learning how halves think, because I don’t think I’ve had that before,” he said.

“It’s new to me, it’s pressure. But it’s more about education and video.

“I feel like as a player you always have to feel like you’re growing. You don’t want to feel like your cup is already full.

“It’s easy to feel like that but I think that’s where the best players separate themselves from the good players, they always feel like there’s growth, they need to be a sponge.”

Cherry-Evans has seen the growth in Walker - on and off the field - and says Manly fans should be excited about what they’ll see in 2020.

“The way he finished last season I thought was pretty cool. He played a really high level of footy at five-eighth last season,” Cherry-Evans told foxsports.com.au.

“It certainly wasn’t the same Dylan Walker that people saw all those years ago when he first played five-eighth.

“I think he’s really grown as a person, and when life gets more steady away from footy the results on the footy field often match that.”

BACK IN A BLUES JERSEY?

Walker played his only two State of Origin games in 2016 - off the bench and then at starting centre - both of which NSW lost.

He represented Australia in 2014 but hasn’t since.

When he sat down recently to do some goal setting for 2020 there was one dot point that stuck out.

“I want to get back into the rep scene,” Walker said.

“I may not, but I’ve worked pretty hard in the pre-season and that’s me trying to get my body right and get fit so I can go into games ready.

“I feel like there’s some unfinished business there for me.”