Coach Cody Souths plans for Cody Walker after football
South Sydney want Cody Walker at the club for âvery, very long timeâ and plan to help him transition into coaching at Redfern once he retires from playing.
Walker will remain at Souths until at least the end of 2023 after inking a one-year extension, which ruled out any hopes Wayne Bennett may have had of luring the five-eighth north for the Dolphinsâ inaugural season.
Cody Walker will remain at Souths until at least the end of 2023. Credit:Getty
Souths coach Jason Demetriou has already discussed post-football options with Walker, and said the 31-year-oldâs care for his teammates and football nous are two key ingredients needed to become an ideal mentor.
His standing in the Indigenous community also gives Walker the opportunity to continue with community work at Souths.
âWeâve had discussions with Cody and coaching is something he wants to look into at the back end of his career,â Demetriou told the Herald.
âUltimately, his football brain is unrivalled, and I noticed the past 12 months how heâs started to have a real voice in terms of how we play, and weâll be encouraging that further.
Natural born leader ... Cody WalkerCredit:Getty Images
âHe has a real care for his teammates and the club, and they are always good qualities to have when youâre thinking about getting into coaching.
âHe loves his time here, and we love having him. He could be at the club for a very, very long time, and hopefully thatâs how it pans out.â
Sam Burgess and John Sutton both made the leap into coaching at Souths after calling time on their playing days.
Predictions of Walker being the gameâs next $1m player were never going to come true, and even though he could have bumped up his asking price had Souths won the premiership, Walker will still collect around $650,000 in the final year of his deal.
His on-field leadership will be priceless for first-year NRL coach Demetriou, who will use rookie playmakers Blake Taaffe or Lachlan Ilias to fill the giant boots of Adam Reynolds as Souths try to go one better in 2022.
The NRL is likely to pit the Rabbitohs against Reynoldsâ new club Brisbane in round one, and Demetriou hoped that was the case so that fans could finally give their halfback the proper farewell that was denied by COVID.
âIt would be great to tussle with the âlittle wombatâ in round one,â Demetriou said of Reynolds. âIt would be great to have Adam in round one so our members and supporters can thank him for his outstanding contribution to the club over the years he was here.
âFor Adam, it will be good as well to get the game out of the way, so he can then focus on what heâs doing at the Broncos. We need to play each other sooner or later, so why not round one?â
Souths have already extended Mark Nicholls, Keaon Koloamatangi, Alex Johnston and now Walker in the four weeks since the shattering loss to Penrith.
Souths CEO Blake Solly said it was only a matter of time before Walker put pen to paper, and was not fazed Walker and Latrell Mitchell, good friends represented by the same manager, were both off contract at the end of 2023.
âThey both feel at home at the Rabbitohs and we love having them here - theyâve been great for us, and we like to think weâve been great for them,â Solly said.
âWe werenât too worried about Redcliffe and Wayne with Cody, and thatâs no disrespect to them. They were only admitted to the competition a couple of weeks ago, and weâd been clear with Cody for some time we wanted to keep him.
âHeâs one of the sharpest football brains at our club, if not the competition. We see him long term as a great coach in the making.â
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