Anyone who's ever played rugby with Bruce Walker knows "Cookie", as he's affectionately known, can tell a good story.
The retired fullback, who thinks he should have played more at No.10, was always up for a chat in the Norths' change rooms or back at the club.
And now he's telling stories to a whole new generation with the publication of a children's book, The World's Greatest Tackle.
It's the story of a game of footy where the insects of the world take on the animals. The outcome, most years, is that the insects are trampled into a mess.
The lion flattens the cricket, the cockroaches are no match for the bear and the bull and when the elephant sets off down the sideline, can anyone stop him?
"Back in the early 2000s there was a joke doing the rounds about an elephant and a centipede playing rugby," says Walker.
"And it just kind of stuck in my head.
"In about 2007 I sat down and wrote about 50 verses and tucked it away."
And then one day he decided to send the text to his lifelong friend Nettie Lodge, who happens to be an award-winning children's book illustrator and artist. And the project came out for the second half, so to speak.
Lodge, who lives on Scotland Island in the Pittwater Estuary in Sydney, illustrated the first four pages of the book and Walker sent it to an old university mate David Scott, who's the managing director of publishing house Woodslane Press on a whim. Scott liked what he saw and in 2020 Walker got the call to say the book would be published.
The retired public servant says he's always been a writer of sorts. He's tried his hand at bush poetry over the years and has been known to pen verses for rugby club functions and family events.
"I go on this creative rollercoaster, writing here and there. I wrote prayers for my children's christenings and I've entered the Australian Bush Poetry competition a few times," he says.
"I've always had a tendency to sit down and write for some reason. And I tend to think in rhyme, I'm a fan of it, from Dr Seuss to Banjo Patterson."
The World's Greatest Tackle started off as a story for his three boys - Grady, Clayton and Ty - who are now in their 20s. Walker is hoping a new generation of sport-loving children find the joy in it.
"Nettie's illustrations are just magical, they're a story unto themselves. There's so much colour and detail and humour in them. I'm very thankful to have done this project with her," he says.
The book has been picked up by Scholastic books, copies are currently available in Dymocks and The Book Cow in Kingston. You can also order online via woodslanepress.com.au. There'll be book signings at Paperchain in Manuka and The Book Cow as well.
Walker says he's enjoyed the process of publication.
"Once I got over the fact they chopped back the 50 verses I'd originally written," he laughs.
"But anyone who knows me, knows I've always been a little verbose."
- The World's Greatest Tackle, by Bruce Walker, illustrations by Nettie Lodge. Woodslane Press. $24.99.
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