The pale, raw-boned boy who became an AFL legend

Walls was born in Dunolly, in western Victoria, and was attending Coburg High School, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, when he was spotted by Carlton. His arrival at the club coincided with Ron Barassi’s first stint as a captain-coach. Walls’ refusal to take prisoners was a direct result of his master’s tutelage.

It made for a career that included its share of controversies, feuds and fallings-out. But Walls was never one to hold back. He booted a goal with his first kick, before securing his place in defence, where his long arms and aerial judgment were put to good use.

In 1969, with a bit more meat on his bones, he returned to centre half-forward. The following year, Walls was critical as Carlton stormed home to steal the premiership cup from Collingwood. But it was his performance in the 1972 grand final that will stand forever.

With captain-coach John Nicholls orchestrating a shootout with Richmond, Walls was supreme in the highest-scoring grand final in VFL/AFL history. Nicholls kicked six goals that day, and Alex Jesaulenko seven.

Although the Norm Smith Medal had yet to be introduced, Walls was the unanimous choice as best afield, with six goals from 24 possessions, including a withering burst early in the second quarter that took the game away from the Tigers.

Walls played 218 matches for Carlton and added another 41 for Fitzroy (1978-80) for a total of 259 games, in which he kicked 444 goals.

In 1981, he began coaching Fitzroy while teaching at Park Orchards Primary School; the game was still only semi-professional.

Walls quickly proved an astute thinker and tireless standard-bearer. “He was extraordinary, he was ahead of his time, and he changed all our lives,” said former Fitzroy tagger Scott Clayton, who later worked under Walls as director of football at the Brisbane Bears.

After finishing bottom of the ladder in 1980, the financially ailing Fitzroy rebounded under Walls, making the finals in three of his five years at the helm with emerging and established champions including Bernie Quinlan, Garry Wilson, Gary Pert and Paul Roos.

At the end of 1985, Carlton sacked coach David Parkin. Walking out of Seven’s studios after an interview, Parkin bumped into the man who had been appointed to replace him. It was Walls. The pair were swapping jobs, with Parkin taking over at Fitzroy.

Walls suggested the pair catch up for a yarn. “I must admit I wasn’t terribly concerned about spending time with him at that stage,” Parkin chuckled. But over the next few hours, Walls astonished him by taking him through Fitzroy’s entire list in detail. Parkin returned the favour.

It was a collegiate gesture, unthinkable today, that benefited both men and cemented a lifelong friendship. Parkin, a four-time premiership coach, regards his first year at Fitzroy, 1986, as his finest coaching performance, when the Lions made the preliminary final.

It was Fitzroy’s last gasp as a competition contender. They were beaten in the preliminary final by Hawthorn, who would in turn beat Carlton under Walls in the grand final. But the Blues turned the tables in 1987, winning the premiership and confirming Walls’ stature as a Carlton immortal.

In a famous move, Walls battled his match committee to play the feisty David Rhys-Jones, normally a winger or flanker, on Hawthorn’s equally pugnacious centre half-forward Dermott Brereton. It worked: Rhys-Jones kept Brereton goalless and won the Norm Smith Medal.

Celebrations were brief. Only a fortnight later, Carlton played an infamous exhibition match against North Melbourne in London, the so-called “Battle of Britain”. Most of the Blues were still hungover, and the two sides brawled senselessly in the supposed friendly.

Later, Walls castigated club president John Elliott, the beer baron whose Carlton and United Breweries had sponsored the event. Blues chief executive (and Walls’ former teammate) Ian Collins was furious. This time, Walls knew his willingness to speak his mind would come back to bite him.

It didn’t take long. Carlton crashed out of the 1988 finals with losses to Hawthorn and Melbourne. Walls berated his troops in the aftermath, and lost them for good. He was sacked the following season after Carlton lost eight of their first 10 games.

“I was too hard on the players, in hindsight,” he told News Limited’s Sacked podcast in 2019. “I drove them relentlessly hard; I was looking for fault, more than I was to give them a pat on the back. I was too brutal, too uncompromising.”

Walls went to the Brisbane Bears in 1991. That year, he exposed a 21-year-old recruit, Shane Strempel, to a boxing session against eight of his teammates. It stopped only when star player Brad Hardie intervened. “We’d better stop or we’ll kill him,” he told the coach.

It was a stain on Walls’ career, but his time at a club that was derided as the “bad-news Bears” was arguably his most influential. In 1995, he dragged a team featuring Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis, Nigel Lappin, Justin Leppitsch and Craig McRae into the finals for the first time.

Ironically, they were knocked out by the all-conquering Carlton, again coached by Parkin. “We talk about the [Ted] Whittens and the Barassis of the world, but I think Rob was a leader, up with the great coaches that came before and after him,” Parkin said of his old friend.

If his man-management style was of the old school, Walls was tactically innovative. One signature set play was the kick-in huddle, where players would cluster at centre-half-back, then burst into space. Parkin eventually introduced the zone defence to counter it.

When Walls’ coaching career finished, he was quickly in demand as an analyst. As usual, his candour led to clashes. He sparred with Sydney coach Paul Roos, declaring his former pupil’s Swans couldn’t possibly win the flag in 2005. They did. Walls later sought unsuccessfully to apologise to Roos.

In print and on air, Walls was straight to the point and unsparing. “We always wondered when the sledgehammer was coming out,” Lane remembers. “But it’s not something he would have done lightly, there was a sense of duty and professionalism about the way he went about it.”

Walls’ life was also marked by tragedy. His wife and mother of his children, Erin, died of cancer in 2006.

In later years, with then-partner Julie, he divided his time between Australia and France, writing a memoir, French Revelation, through the eyes of their dog Gus.

He is survived by his daughter Rebecca and sons Daniel and David, seven grandchildren, and sister Annette.

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