Walker makes NRL look easy in Knights rout

Newcastle are famous for their former No.7 but on Saturday night a teenage halfback put the Knights to the sword in a 38-4 NRL smash up that could be costly for the Sydney Roosters.

Sam Walker laid on six tries to continue his remarkable introduction to the NRL beneath the shadow of the Andrew Johns Stand at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Amazingly, the 18-year-old in just his fifth NRL game was the best player on the field for the second week in a row showing the consistency of a seasoned campaigner.

However, some of the joy was sucked out of the rousing win late when Brett Morris was carried from the field in agony with an injury to his right knee.

The 34-year-old was writhing in pain after he was tackled over the sideline with four minutes on the clock.

There was also concerns for Roosters prop Lindsay Collins, who suffered a knee injury.

The back-to-back injuries left the Roosters with just 11 players to finish off the 34-point win after coach Trent Robinson used all his substitutes.

If significant injuries are confirmed as feared, Morris and Collins will add to a long casualty list for the Roosters that includes Luke Keary, Boyd Cordner and retired co-captain Jake Friend.

However, the shining light was Walker.

A week after starring in the Roosters’ 34-10 win over St George Illawarra, Walker had the finishing touch for three of the four first-half tries tries but had a hand in all of them.

He then scored one of his own in the second half and laid on two more, racking up an incredible 11 try assists and three tries from his first five NRL games.

Each week that passes makes it more unbelievable that Walker was simply a back-up halfback for the Roosters, who may not have been unleashed so early had Keary stayed fit.

Walker laid on the opening try via a floating pass to Daniel Tupou in the sixth minute to put the towering winger at outright third on the Roosters’ all-time tryscoring list.

Tupou’s 105th try put him above Bill Mullins (104) but within reach of Shaun Kenny-Dowall (121) and Anthony Minichiello (139).

Another smart pass to Tupou just five minutes later put Josh Morris across, who finished with a hat-trick in the rout.

The fearless young halfback stunned the Knights with either smart passing or a deft kicking game as the Roosters took hold of the game and didn’t let go.

Tries to Matt Ikuvalu and Angus Crichton further exposed the defensive ineptitude of the Knights’ edges.

In seriously worrying signs for the Knights, last year’s finalists have now won just three of their opening eight games.

The lone try came through a bullet pass from Kalyn Ponga to Brayden Musgrove half an hour in, but there was no further highlights for the home side.

Halfback Blake Green was also taken off late in the second half with a rib injury after copping a late shot from winger Matt Ikuvalu.

If serious, Green’s absence will further complicate team selections for coach Adam O’Brien.