Source : ABC NEWS
Former Fitzroy and Sydney champion Paul Roos has revealed the emotional dash he made to Melbourne from the United States to farewell his coaching mentor Robert Walls.
Walls died on Thursday after using voluntary assisted dying laws, having been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer, in 2023.
Roos played for Fitzroy from 1982 to 1994, crossing paths with Walls who coached the Lions from 1981 to 1985.
“[When I heard Walls’s death was imminent] I jumped on a plane and came back to Australia to see Robert specifically. I’m forever grateful,” Roos told the ABC Sport AFL Daily podcast.
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“I spent a few hours with him and we spoke about footy and life.
“He gave me some advice and I made sure he knew what a legacy he had left. I thanked him for everything he had done.
“It was an amazing conversation and something not many people have an opportunity to do, so I’ll forever treasure that.
“I said, ‘Mate, do you understand the legacy you left?’ and he said ‘Yeah, I think I do.'”
Walls was known as a hard coach who set high standards, guiding Carlton to a premiership in 1987 before stints at the Brisbane Bears and Richmond.
“He was always tough,” Roos said.
“He was an athletic player but also a tough player. As a coach, he was innovative but he was also tough. I said to him, ‘You were tough on us,’ but he said, ‘Paul, you guys were ready to be coached.’
Paul Roos has explained the impact Robert Walls had on his career. (AAP: Julian Smith)
“He was tough and he was hard, and one of the main things he taught me was about feedback. The feedback he gave me I knew was from the heart because he wanted me to get better. And then the discipline and the hard work.”
Walls’s time at the Bears — where he inherited an expansion side struggling both on and off the field — was criticised by some, particularly after it was revealed years later that Bears player Shane Strempel quit football after he was subjected to a brutal boxing session in 1991 that left him bloodied and bruised.
“He needed to know that he had to pay a price for his indiscretions, and he needed to be given an opportunity to earn some respect,” Walls wrote in an article in 2001.
“For 10 or 12 minutes, he sparred/boxed five or six different opponents.
Robert Walls (right) with Fitzroy champions Bernie Quinlan and Leon Harris. (AAP)
“I stood within five metres of him throughout, ensuring that he was in a safe situation. There were to be no haymakers or round arms.”
Carlton coach Michael Voss, who started his career under Walls, said he was an “incredible mentor” who was a “hard arse”.
“I’ve copped the greatest sprays of all time from Robert,” Voss said.
“Because I was in year 11 at school, I used to have my maths, and because he was a teacher I used to just try and break the ice by asking him for some advice about how I solved the maths problem.
(From left) Jeff Gieschen, Ron Barassi, Bob Skilton, John Nicholls and Walls watch on as the Victorian team warms up for the 1995 State of Origin match. (Getty Images: Mark Dadswell)
“I didn’t want to ask him about football because we weren’t very good back then, so we lost a lot, but yeah, that’s probably one of my more fond memories.”
The three-time Brisbane premiership captain remembered Walls as having a massive influence.
“As hard as it was for that two and a half hours to sit beside him, it was also a great opportunity to be able to know him, the man, not just the coach,” Voss said.
“He’s been an incredible mentor for me over a very, very long period of time.
Michael Voss (pictured) said Robert Walls shaped his early days at the Bears. (Getty Images)
“He’s a genuine hard arse and really taught about professionalism and work ethic and didn’t accept another standard except the best … he also drew the best out of you.
“As far as what he means for Carlton, he’s taken legend status for us, so it probably shows just how much, how high a regard he’s held. He’ll be dearly missed.”
Geelong coach Chris Scott, who also started his career under Walls, said moving to Queensland from Victoria with Nigel Lappin, who is an assistant coach at the Cats, was a difficult time, but Walls helped shape the men.
“Wallsy was the first coach that Nigel Lappin and I ever had as professional footballers,” Scott said.
“We went up as 17-year-olds to the fledgling Brisbane Bears, who had done it tough for a few years already. All the people who have had success at the Bears, the Lions and Fitzroy people that came across in time all reflect back on that time as really formative for the future success.
“The key person within that was Robert Walls.
“I tend to think about how hard that was, especially now being a head coach with all the support that I have. I can empathise for Wallsy, who was in a coaching sense a one-man band.
“For him in his last days and for his family, they must be so proud to reflect back on where football is now, particularly in the northern states, and everyone looks back and thinks if it wasn’t for him, Brisbane wouldn’t be in the situation that it is now.
“On a personal level, and I speak for Nigel Lappin as well, we wouldn’t be where we are without him.”
