South Sydney centre Dylan Walker play preliminary final for Rabbitohs on 19th birthday JUST imagine having 40,000 people turn up to your 19th birthday. That will be the scene on Friday night for Dylan Walker. And while the young Rabbitohs sensation might not get Happy Birthday as his celebration song, if things go according to plan, then this party could end with another famous old tune: Glory, Glory to South Sydney. Talk about a year to remember. At the start of 2013 Walker was playing Holden Cup and on the day of the first round jumped out of bed long before the sun to catch a bus to work at Camperdown Fitness Centre. "I spoke to his boss today," Rabbitohs under 20s coach Grant Jones laughed on Thursday. That Thursday before we played the Roosters he didn't even tell his boss that he had to play that night. He still came in at 4.45am and then after work turned up to play football that night. Dylan Walker goes through a drill at Rabbitohs training. And didn't he put on a show. By the end of that game Michael Maguire tapped Jones on the shoulder and said he shouldn't get too attached - because Walker's career was about to take off like a space shuttle. "He scored a try from inside his own half that he just wasn't entitled to score," Jones said. Nothing was happening and he beat the line and the fullback had no hope. That was the first half. "Then he scored another one in the second half, pretty much the same," Jones said. I think there and then Madge knew he had a player. From nowhere another home grown sensation emerged. And just like Souths fans love, this kid came from humble beginnings. Raised by his mother Judy who hails from Pitcairn Island in the southern Pacific Ocean, she made her way to Australia via New Zealand and settled just up the road from where Captain Cook landed. At Botany, bang in Souths heartland. Walker tells a wonderful story about the old lady who lived across the street."She used to say hello to me in the morning," Walker said earlier this year, "and she had the Bunnies stickers on the front of her house. I have always loved the red and green. He was still at high school this time last year, attending the renowned Rabbitohs breeding ground Matraville Sports High that also delivered the Bunnies' Adam Reynolds a few years earlier. Just like Reynolds, Walker spent his junior days playing in the halves at five eighth and kicking goals at better than 80 per cent. But given John Sutton was first grade captain and going nowhere, Maguire decided to try Walker in the centres. They tell you that in the modern game there is no tougher position to defend on the field. "If you're playing at centres and you can't defend, well, the coach is going to have to send you back," Jones explained. He went from strength to strength, the highlight of his season was against the reigning premiers in week one of the finals. "If you saw the way he defended against Melbourne, he was outstanding," Jones added. His decision making. He's smart. He can read it. It would be the toughest position to defend because you are covering inside and out. You have always got decisions to make. But he has just grown in confidence because he comes up with the right decisions. Attack just comes on the back of that. And boy, can this young Rabbit run. Put it this way, Jones said it would be a struck match between Walker and Nathan Merritt. "It would be interesting," he said. If he wasn't the fastest he'd be the second fastest. And so here he is, heading to his 19th birthday on Friday night and the surprise could just be a place in an NRL grand final.