Born in St Helens, Welsh international, Ant Walker’s rugby league journey has been inspirational.
Now plying his trade in Carl Forster’s North Wales Crusaders side who sit top of Betfred League One, Walker’s career has been far from plain sailing, one of many reasons as to why he commands so much respect throughout the game of rugby league.
Arriving at Crusaders from Swinton Lions at the start of the 2025 season, Walker’s professional career began at Super League outfit St’ Helens before moving onto Wakefield whilst also enjoying loan spells with Rochdale and Whitehaven.
However, it was on the eve of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup where his career was turned on its head when he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain condition forcing him to retire from the game immediately.
Speaking about his experience, he said: “So I got knocked out playing the game before the 2017 World Cup, and I couldn’t pass the head test, so I was sent for a scan.
“From that, they found the AVM, which is bit like an aneurysm on the brain, and they told me that it was something which I was born with, and once they’d found that, I just had to retire then and there.
“I went to see a number of specialists and ended up having to have radiotherapy, but then the longer I was retired the more it got to me.
“I stayed within the game, I actually did some coaching at Rochdale when Foz [Carl Forster] was there, and it was there during training where I thought to myself – I could come back, I feel fine.
“So I spoke to the surgeon and he said that it would take around two years for the radiotherapy to work, I was about six to twelve months in at that point, I felt fine so went back to Rochdale and said, I want to come back and play anyway, but obviously the RFL said with the medical advice that I couldn’t play until the radiotherapy had worked and I’d had a scan.
“Some time passed and I was coaching with Wales Under 19’s at Colwyn Bay before they played against England around 2019 and John Kear who was coaching the Wales first-team came down and I said to him, I’m available next year John, he was also coaching at Bradford Bulls at the time, and he turned to me and said okay then, come to training in pre-season and we’ll see what we can do.
“At the start I’d probably said it as a bit of a joke, but I went to Bradford that November and they were great with me, they paid for my scan, and to my relief it was all gone and I had the all clear.
“By that time we were in the middle of lockdown, so I wen’t to see a different specialist and they said yeah, I’ve got no issues with you playing, so that went back to the RFL and I had the all clear to get back playing.
“I just wanted to play again, and go out on my own terms.”
Speaking about his second spell in the game, he said: “It certainly makes you enjoy it better.
“At first I was in two minds whether to come back, I was thinking in one way I’m really lucky because I’ve had this since birth and not known, I could have died but they’ve found it and cleared it.
“The other side of me was thinking well I’ve had this all my life and it’s never caused me any issues so why should I retire.
“So when I came back, I saw it as a free hit, before I retired, rugby was my full-time job, it was all I knew.
“During the period out of the game, I was no longer Anthony Walker the rugby player, I had to establish a job away from the game, so when I came back I felt like there was more freedom.
“I won’t stop now until I feel that I’m ready to and that enjoyment goes, at the moment I’m loving playing, I love the environment here at Crusaders and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.”
On his pre-season move to North Wales, he said: “There were a number of reasons why I chose to come here, one being that I was big mates with Carl [Forster], having played with him at Saints and we’ve always kept close throughout our careers, and another reason is that throughout the years I’ve also played alongside a lot of the lads who are here so I knew it was a really good group.
“Ofcourse, another factor is that being a Welsh international, I thought that it would be fitting to finish my career at a Welsh team.”
Ant Walker is available for sponsorship for the second-half of the 2025 season, to sponsor Ant, email commercial@nwcrusadersrl.com
Speaking about life at North Wales, Walker added: “A coach once said to me that a group of good people is better than a team of individual superstars, and that’s what we’ve got here.
“Most of the lads are of a similar age, everyone gets on, you’re literally playing with your mates.
“For has assembled a squad here where there’s no egos in the dressing room, nobody thinking that they’re the main main and likewise nobody feeling like they don’t belong here.
“I personally think that we can go and make a good push to win the league, don’t get me wrong in this league this year, anyone can go and beat anyone else, it’s a very tough league, but there’s no reason why this team can’t aim for promotion.
“These next few games now, the likes of Rochdale, Midlands, Workington and Dewsbury all to come, that will show us where we’re really at.
“For me personally, I’m in the twilight of my career now so I want to be winning games and looking for success over the next few years.”
You can catch Ant Walker and North Wales Crusaders in action this weekend when they host Rochdale Hornets at Stadiwm CSM, Colwyn Bay, secure your tickets by clicking HERE.