Some things in life are good luck and others are good management.

Whichever it was that led to Jed Walter and his family driving past Palm Beach Currumbin Football Club a decade ago, a lot of people can be thankful for.

Not only was the enthusiastic eight-year-old busting to try his hand at Australian Football for the first time, but he would walk into a club that already had a couple of young players named Ethan Read and Will Graham.

After being drafted by Gold Coast in a landmark night for the club late last year, the trio are already more recognisable in their home city than their more established and credentialled teammates.

Walter is about as Gold Coast as it gets – big and strong, tanned, a huge smile, and a knockabout nature that’s hard to not be drawn to.

Not only has his journey from a “bad” player (his word) to one of the most coveted teenagers in the country helped the SUNS in the short term, it’s helping to put the sport at the forefront of Gold Coasters’ minds from Ormeau to Coolangatta.

Finding the game

Born in Western Australia in 2005, Walter grew up in a family of football lovers. His grandparents and mum Leanne were huge West Coast fans. He idolised Nic Naitanui and Josh Kennedy – the man he would later be compared to as a player.

Although a love of the game was there, Walter didn’t take any part in organised football until his family made the long move to the east coast when he was eight years of age.

A week after the move they would be driving to the beach to walk their dog and went past Palm Beach Currumbin Football Club.

The juniors were training, so Team Walter popped in, met coach Darren Beaufoy and signed up.

“I was pretty bad when I first started,” Walter said in an extended chat with AFL.com.au.

“I loved it but hadn’t played it yet. I was pretty bad. I got put in the back pocket. I couldn’t kick the bloody thing,” he laughed. 

Trent Williams has seen Walter’s career up close from its beginning. A long-time ‘Palmy’ Juniors committee member, Williams’ son played in the same team as Walter, Graham and Read.

He then took the coaching reins from Beaufoy from the under-14s and beyond.

“The way he plays his footy right now is exactly how he played as a junior,” Williams said.

“His attack on the ball, attack on an opponent, chasing them down, he’s done it all his life.

“The two words we’d always use were energy and effort.” 

The physical package

Speak to anyone and they’ll tell you Walter was always quick, and he was always strong. Perhaps that comes back to other sports he played as a junior.

He was a runner, competing in both track and cross country at Tallebudgera State School and then Palm Beach Currumbin High.

So good in fact, that he won the national 800m title as an under-10 in Canberra (but was disqualified for a lane violation – let’s not let that get in the way of the feat!)

Walter also went to national championships for cross country. Running was a bit “lonely” for him, though, and despite moving down in distance to the 200m as he got older, it was never a pursuit he would stick with.

The other interest was surf lifesaving.

In football’s off-season, Walter would do the nippers program at Tallebudgera Surf Club with Read (Graham did the same program at nearby Currumbin Surf Club).

Despite his prowess on two feet, it was the water he loved there, preferring swimming and the board paddle.

None of it compared to football – although Walter felt the running helped – particularly when he went through a growth spurt at the end of primary school.

“I was usually the bigger boy and played ruck and I guess that’s how I got spotted,” he said.

“To be honest, I probably haven’t grown since I was 15, haha.”

He was 12 when he started turning heads, making representative teams and attending a Gold Coast Combine day that tested prospective Academy talent.

Former Richmond, Brisbane and Gold Coast player Andrew Raines was the head of the SUNS’ Academy at the time.

“I saw him as a 12-year-old, there was a bit of talk about him then. There was the local Grand Final and they said he was a man child, he was bigger than everyone … what I liked about him was his athleticism,” Raines said.

“I looked at his agility, speed, power and all that … you could see he was going to be a fair athlete.”

Things progressed at Palmy, winning the League under-14 best and fairest, and then missing the same award by a single vote the following year despite missing six games through other commitments.

Walter made the under-16 All-Australian team as a bottom ager.

“That was the first time where I thought I could have a good crack at it if I really put my head down.”

His star was on the rise. 

Playing men and progressing through the Academy

Entrenched in the Academy, Walter began working even closer with Raines once COVID-19 heavily impacted the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Raines was stood down from his SUNS role, but his personal One on One Coaching business was thriving. He wanted to mentor Walter free of charge.

“We did a lot of work on his kicking,” Raines said.

“I’m a big believer in his strengths. He had power, so we tried to focus on that and limit his options.

“We worked on his goalkicking routine, his marking, his hands. We did a fair bit of work through that period.”

Walter began getting exposure to higher levels. In 2021, as a 15-year-old he played a Coates Talent League game against Dandenong, coming up against players three years his senior, including future teammate Mac Andrew.

Again, it was his competitiveness, willingness to hunt and chase that drew attention.

At Palm Beach he made his debut in the QAFL at senior level.

“I remember I played against (former Brisbane Lion) Matty Eagles,” Walter recalled.

“I stirred him up one game, it was funny, I was just a 15-year-old stirring blokes up.

“I remember him hitting me in the chest when we got into a bit of a scuffle, and I reckon I had a sore sternum for about two months. I’ve always played on that edge.”

That “edge” comes from his mother, Walter says.

“She’s my number one fan. It was me, mum and my two sisters (Chanelle and Shelby).

“We’re super close and she’s always there through the good and the bad. 

“She gives me a clip on the ear when I need one. When I need to talk to her about stuff, she’s there for me.

“Footy, she sees the game as good as anyone, so she’ll tell me how I played.”

Part of Walter’s progress included a week of training with the SUNS (all AFL National Academy squad members have access to train with one club for a week) in early 2022.

It was here he would learn a valuable lesson about what it took to reach the top.

With Sam Collins living nearby the teenager, the vice-captain offered to pick him up and drive him home from training each day.

But one morning it came with a condition.

“He asked me to go for a swim with him and ‘Witta’ (Jarrod Witts) one morning at Tally Creek, before we went in (to club).

“He said he couldn’t pick me up … unless I wanted to come as well.

“I remember walking up the driveway thinking: ‘What have I got myself into?’

“It was good though, I really enjoyed it.”

Into the AFL

On November 20, 2023, Walter (No.3), Read (No.9) and Graham (No.26) were all drafted to the SUNS, 10 years after they first played together at Palmy.

Their Academy mate – and Broadbeach Cat – Jake Rogers (No.14) joined them.

“We’ve all played together since we were little fellas. It’s kind of a cool story,” Walter said.

“We haven’t thought about it now because we’re young, but I reckon when we’re older we’ll look back and think it’s cool and exciting.”

Williams says finding local products is great for football in south east Queensland as participation numbers explode.

“We’ve got a raft of kids a year or two younger than Jed that have all got the potential,” he said.

“Palm Beach (High) has an Academy there.

“You throw those ingredients in with a kid aspiring to be in the AFL, you’re ticking a lot of boxes.

“We’re under-valuing exactly the effect of these three boys. You’ve got to keep providing the opportunity.”

Raines has seen it first-hand. When he was drafted by Richmond in 2003 from Gold Coast, there was no hint of an Academy, the SUNS, or local players to aspire to.

Walter did six months coaching for his business, and he saw the reaction of youngsters that looked to him.

“The kids loved him,” Raines said.

“We booked him out at Palm Beach because all the kids knew him. He’s a role model there.

“Having the Academy is the best thing ever for the Gold Coast. They can touch and see reality of where they can go.”

Nothing could better encapsulate the impact of round five against Hawthorn, where the three locals were all mobbed by their former clubmates following victory at People First Stadium.

“It was pretty cool to have all the Palmy boys getting around it. They were probably loving it more than we were,” Walter laughed.

“It means a lot. There’s so much noise around us four, but there’s a lot of younger boys coming through now, so it’s just going to grow and grow and get better from now.

“When I was playing in the under-18s, there was some very good players coming through in the 16s. it’s going to be a scary few years.

“It’d be cool one day if there was a lot more homegrown talent running around in the Gold Coast SUNS colours.”