Unfortunately for him, the rugby league gods had other ideas.

With the scores locked at 8-all in Sunday's decider at Suncorp Stadium, Walker sensed an opportunity down his left edge.

But instead of opting for a short-ball that would have put centre Dane Gagai through a hole, Walker sent a long pass in the direction of winger Alex Johnston, that was plucked out of the air by Penrith's Stephen Crichton - who then raced away to score.

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Nathan Cleary landed the conversion to give the Panthers some breathing space at 14-8.

Although Walker and Johnston combined soon after, to close the margin, a missed sideline conversion by Adam Reynolds sealed Souths' fate (losing 14-12) - leaving the five-eighth wishing he could have that moment again.

"It's obviously a very empty feeling coming here and not getting the result," Walker told Channel Nine.

"I've got no words to describe how I'm feeling.

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"We just found it really hard to get out of our end in that first half and to our credit we only conceded one try.

"They had some pretty big moments in that second half, one of those moments being me throwing an intercept and they got it.

"That's the game, we lost by two points. It's hard."

While the moment is difficult for Walker to come to terms with, it should not detract from his brilliant season, which saw him named Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year, after leading the competition in both the line-break assist (46) and try-assist (33) categories.

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