Tex Walker to retire: Adelaide Crows great calls time after 19 seasons, 706 goals

Adelaide Crows forward Taylor "Tex" Walker will retire at the end of the 2026 AFL season, bringing down the curtain on a 19-year career that made him the most prolific goalkicker in the club's history. (ABC News)

Walker, 36, has played 316 matches and kicked 706 goals for Adelaide — a Crows club record. Drafted in 2007 from Broken Hill, the far-west NSW mining town that has produced a string of AFL players, he made his senior debut in 2009 and has worn navy blue, red and gold ever since.

He captained Adelaide from 2015 to 2019, leading the side to the 2017 grand final — the Crows' first decider since winning back-to-back premierships in 1997–98. His peers voted him the AFL Players' Association Best Captain in both 2016 and 2017. Late in his career he added an All-Australian selection in 2023, the annual honour for the competition's best 22 players across all positions.

The road to a 19th season was not straightforward. After Adelaide's 2025 campaign ended, Walker publicly said he was unsure whether he would play on and that the club had not yet opened contract talks. (Adelaide Crows) Former Crows captain Mark Bickley argued publicly that Walker should retire. (SEN)

A month later, Walker signed a one-year extension. The AFL reported that Adelaide and Walker had "clear alignment" on his role for 2026. (AFL.com.au) That deal carried him into the season in which he has now confirmed will be his last.

For a generation of Crows fans, Walker has been the constant — the key forward (the tall target inside the attacking 50-metre arc) who could take a contested mark under pressure and convert the set shot that followed. His journey from a Broken Hill teenager to a 700-goal club record holder spans almost the entire modern era of the Adelaide Football Club.

Walker will see out the remaining matches of the 2026 home-and-away season and any finals the Crows reach before stepping away from the game.