Rugby League World Cup: 'If it bursts you will probably die' - Anthony Walker's incredible return

Prop Anthony Walker has recently signed for Widnes, following Wales boss John Kear from Bradford

Playing in a World Cup is precious for any player, but for Anthony Walker competing in this year's tournament will be extra special.

The Wales prop was forced to retire just days before the 2017 tournament after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain condition - arteriovenous malformation (AVM) - that he had unknowingly had since birth.

AVM is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels connecting arteries and veins which affects less than 1% of the population, leaving sufferers with a much higher risk of a potentially fatal burst - meaning Walker could no longer play rugby league.

"I was in the World Cup squad for 2017 but the week before we flew out I got knocked out playing for my club side," said the 30-year-old.

"I had to go for some scans and... they found an abnormality in my brain that I was born with.

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"The surgeon said the impact injury wasn't so bad and that it'll get better over time but something else flagged up.

"We did another scan and he saw an AVM which is something that affects 1 in 250,000 people where one in 50 die a year from it.

"The advice they gave me was that you're playing a contact sport, you're getting hit around the head, there's a much greater chance than one in 50 that mine will burst.

"If it bursts you will probably die from it... I was advised to retire on medical grounds the day before we flew to Australia for the 2017 World Cup.

"I sat in the car when the specialist told me in Manchester and I was in shock. I thought I would be OK and everything would be fine.

"But then to have your life chucked away from you as that's all I did at the time - play rugby full-time - so to walk into a room with a job and then walk out of the room without a job was pretty hard.

"It's funny because the first person I rang wasn't my dad or my partner at the time, it was John Kear the Wales head coach and I apologised and I said I was sorry but I'm not allowed.

Anthony Walker says Wales and Widnes boss John Kear is 'the kind of guy you run through a brick wall for'

"He was great and really supportive but I was in shock at first. But the Rugby League were really good, they offered me a lot of support and help and I was fortunate enough to walk straight into a job which was really good for paying my mortgage.

"It was pretty hard watching the boys in Australia because you think you can help the team out, and then not actually being allowed to play for something you didn't even know you had.

"After the initial shock for the first week or two and when the tournament had finished, I was okay as there was no rugby on TV because the World Cup is at the end of the year so I wouldn't have been playing anyway.

"I was OK for six or seven months and then when the rugby league season started again, that's when it really hit home that I'm not doing what I've done since I was six years of age."

Walker made his professional debut for St Helens in 2013 before moving to Wakefield in 2015, as well as having loan spells with Whitehaven, Dewsbury and Rochdale - who he was playing for when he suffered that fateful head knock.

Although no longer able to play, he remained involved in the game he loved by coaching amateur side Blackbrook and Wales Under-19s, and worked for Rochdale Hornets.

But Walker always kept believing that he could one day return to the playing field.

"The treatment options they gave me were open brain surgery, but that was not for me because it (the AVM) had never caused me issues," he said.

"The other option was radiotherapy but that takes two years for it to fully shrink and that was the one I decided to go for.

"I found out in October and this was the following April and then it took two years from then for it to shrink, and then in two years' time I had a scan and they found out the treatment had worked and it had gone."

Wales prop Anthony Walker's clubs include St Helens, Wakefield, Whitehaven, Dewsbury, Rochdale, Bradford and Widnes

It was in April 2020 that Walker was given the all-clear by the Rugby Football League to make a return to the professional ranks. Even that return was complicated.

"I had two years of treatment and got the all-clear two years ago, but then Covid hit so I couldn't play then so I wasn't involved in any of the (World Cup) qualifiers," he said.

It was Kear who helped pave the way for Walker's return to playing, the Wales boss inviting the prop to pre-season at his Bradford Bulls side and then taking him on.

Kear left Bradford to become Widnes Vikings head coach last July and it is no surprise that Walker has now followed a man he says he would "run through a brick wall for" to the Halton Stadium, with Widnes announcing Walker's signing last week on a two-year deal.

"To be lucky enough to play last season and obviously the World Cup was pushed back a year has probably helped me a little bit to get back into the team this year," Walker said.

"It's been a crazy five years really, a bit of a rollercoaster but I've come back to where it ended.

"Playing in the World Cup in 2013 was really great, qualifying for 2017 and then for everything to get shattered, and to now get back to where it was.

"When I came back playing two years ago, this was my goal to get back into that World Cup squad."

'Friends for life'

Wales kick off their World Cup campaign against the Cook Islands on Wednesday, 19 October in Leigh.

They face Tonga in St Helens on Monday, 24 October before a final group game against Papua New Guinea in Doncaster seven days later.

"Outside of this Wales camp, nobody realises how good this Wales camp is," Walker added.

"We're a really tight-knit group and people say it all the time that you make friends for life, but in this Wales camp you really do make friends for life.

"You create some amazing experiences off the field too. I think I'll be proud of myself when I step away from it, but when you're in the moment you don't really realise but when I do retire I might look back and I may be prouder than I am now because I'm in the moment."

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