MINDS were seemingly made up to the point where plane tickets were being looked at.

To all intents and purposes, Danny Walker had his heart set on a move to Australia – even his head coach Sam Burgess admitted he had been resigned to losing him at one stage towards the back end of last year.

However, one thing that lives inside every Warrington Wolves player – especially those who have called the town home for their whole life as Walker has – changed his mind and convinced him to turn his back on a dream move to the NRL.

“One thing that was burning away in the back of my head was that I’d never forgive myself if I’d left and not been part of the first Warrington team to win Super League,” the hooker told the Guardian after signing a new long-term deal with his hometown club.

“It was just burning away and that outweighed anything.

“It’s something I’m desperate to be a part of and hopefully we can get it done.”

Danny Walker celebrates scoring a try during last year's Challenge Cup semi-final win over Huddersfield Giants (Image: SWPix.com) News of the Orford lad, who grew up a looping Lee Briers pass away from The Halliwell Jones Stadium and cheered on his primrose and blue heroes from the East Stand, penning a deal to keep him at the club until the end of 2029 certainly came as a huge boost to Burgess as he prepares for the new season.

The offer of fresh terms had been on the table for a while but in a break from the usual new contract clichés, Walker admitted this was not a decision he came to instantly given the strong interest that was shown by Canberra Raiders.

However, he also says the faith shown in him by the club at several stages – including the rejection of a hefty transfer fee from the Raiders for his services – was another factor in him sticking around.

“I’m not going to lie – it took a while,” the 25-year-old said.

“It took me a little bit of time but I needed to have a good think about what was best not only for me but for my family.

“I’m certainly made up with the decision I’ve made – I speak a lot about how much I love this place and it was always going to take a lot to turn my head so I’m really excited for the future.

“Either way, I was going to be happy. I’m playing rugby league which is what I love doing so I would have been happy whichever way it went.

“They’ve put a lot of faith in me and it makes you feel good as a player.

“I’ve got a really good relationship with the owners and the coaches here, they’ve shown a lot of faith in me and I’ve got to repay that now.

“That’s something I was thinking of too – they had to pay a fee to bring me here from Widnes so I’ve got to repay that with loyalty.”

With his future now the most secure it ever has been, Walker can focus on continuing the upward curve he has found himself on individually.

Each season, he appears to grow in influence and 2024 ended with him being named in the Super League Dream Team for the very first time.

Danny Walker was joined in the 2024 Super League Dream Team by Wire teammates Matt Dufty and Matty Ashton (Image: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com) That influence is spoken of highly by those within the club, to the point of him being tipped as a future club captain by many.

Already a part of the team’s on-field leadership group, he admits that will always be a dream and honour.

“I’m always trying to develop and better myself and the leadership side of things is a route I’d like to go down,” he said.

“We’ve got a great leader in the minute in George (Williams) and obviously Stef (Ratchford), and then a really strong leadership group which I’m a part of myself.

“I’m learning from those boys every day – you look at someone like Sam Powell, he probably doesn’t realise the amount I’ve learned from him just by watching the way he plays and speaks.

“It’s certainly a step I want to take.”

Despite being named as the defacto best player in his position in Super League, however, the off-season brought about frustration for Walker in terms of England selection.

While he was named in Shaun Wane’s squad for the two-match Test series against Samoa, he did not manage to add to the four England caps he possessed at the start of camp with former Warrington teammate Daryl Clark preferred as starting hooker with 2024 Man of Steel Mikey Lewis as a utility interchange option.

Danny Walker did not feature in either of England's two Tests against Samoa (Image: Paul Currie/SWpix.com) And with that brought a delayed start to pre-season and the potential to have plenty of catching up to do when he returned to his club just before Christmas, but the former Crosfields and Rylands Sharks junior took it all in his stride.

“It is tough, I’ve got to say,” he said.

“You’re coming up to Christmas and you’ve got to get yourself motivated just for a week before you go off for the Christmas period.

“One thing you can’t do anymore at this place is come back in bad shape. You’ve got to hit the ground running because the lads who had been in for weeks before me were in great shape.

“That’s what I tried to do – I keep on top of myself a fair bit so I wouldn’t be flagging behind.

“With England, it was frustrating and I was gutted I didn’t manage to get out there.

“I completely understood the reasons behind it – we had Mikey Lewis coming on at hooker off the bench, and he’s the Man of Steel.

“I just tried to be the best teammate I could be but it will just be extra motivation for me.

“We’d come straight off the back of that semi-final loss and then that happened, so I’ve got to turn that into fuel.”

As Walker mentions, there is plenty with which he can stoke the personal and collective fire heading into his seventh season with the club since joining from Widnes Vikings in 2019.

While 2024 was a season of undoubted progress on the field, the final step of going from challengers to winners continued to elude The Wire.

And as if a Challenge Cup Final loss to Wigan Warriors in June wasn’t enough of a gut-punch, there then came a narrow and controversial loss to Hull KR in the Super League semi-finals to bring their year to an end in October.

Wire’s number nine, however, insists he and his teammates will be much stronger having gone through such agony for the very first time.

A dejected Danny Walker in the aftermath of the semi-final defeat at Hull KR (Image: Richard Sellers/PA Wire) “I wouldn’t say it’s still raw,” he said of the semi-final loss.

“I’ve watched the game back a few times – I tried to only watch it once but you end up going over and over things to see what you could have done better.

“As a group, we’d been in the Challenge Cup Final and learnt a lot from that, so we’ve got to take what we can from that semi-final as well.

“It’s not so much that its raw anymore – it still annoys me but we’ve moved past it as a group.

“It will make us stronger as a group but it will make me stronger individually as well.

“It was my first real time playing in big, pressure games like that, so I learnt a lot from it and I know everyone in the group did.”