Sam Walker has revealed how a midweek meeting with Luke Keary gave him the freedom and confidence to shine in the Sydney Roosters' No.6 jersey.
In a serious warning shot to NRL rivals, Walker starred in Friday night's 26-12 win over Manly as he played with certainty and looked at home as a five-eighth.
The performance came after a quiet afternoon in their round-one loss to Newcastle, as he adapted to playing second fiddle to the returning Keary for the first time.
But it was evident on Friday night that uncertainty had turned to clarity.
Walker detailed how Keary had led a spine meeting last week in which he made clear each player's role.
It gave him the confidence to take the game on.
"We didn't get too much time in the pre-season to work together and I think that showed in the first game," Walker said.
"We really sat down this week and spoke about what we wanted from each other.
"Kez being back, he has a lot of experience in big games. He really took leadership as one of our captains, and he owned that.
"He really controlled our team and steered the ship for us today. It made my job and Teddy (James Tedesco)'s job really easy because we could just play off the back of him."
Walker is also comfortable in the role of playing with freedom.
While much has been made of his move from halfback to five-eighth after being the Roosters main man last year, he believes the shift is a step back to his natural game.
He ran the ball twice in the opening minutes of the win over Manly, stepping through the line to set up the Roosters' first try and busting three tackles in the victory.
On another occasion he and Keary both combined in the same play for the match-sealing try, again after the five-eighth had dug into the line.
"I've got to pick my moments when to inject myself in the game, but I'm still a half so I need to control the team as well," Walker said.
"Kez being the older half, he's really taken on the leadership which allows me to be able to play a bit more on natural instincts.
"I'm really looking forward to that because that's how I've grown up.
"I'm really excited to grow on those connections because our left edge was enormous tonight with a couple of tries."
