STEVE Walker cannot wait to get back to the Avenue this summer and pin down a place alongside his brother at the heart of the Dorchester Town defence.

Last season saw Steve and older sibling Nathan, the Magpies’ new club captain, play together for the first time during the latter’s spell on loan from Weymouth.

And with Nathan having signed a permanent deal with Dorchester in May, Steve, who also put pen to paper on a one-year contract earlier this week, is hoping for more of the same next term.

“It’s great to be back on board,” he said. “I was hoping they were going to offer me something.

“I’ve been at the club for four years and they have looked after me so well that I wasn’t going to walk away just because they had been relegated.

“I’m happy as well because my brother is back and I’m hoping we’re going to be playing together at centre-half.

“I enjoyed playing alongside him last season. When he came back on loan I was suspended and thought I wasn’t going to play with him.

“But I managed to get back in the side and we played together at the back with Jake McCarthy in a three.

“It was great. I looked to learn from Nathan because he had played at that level for so long.

“He was speaking to me during games and that’s where you get your experience from.

“I’m looking forward to doing it again next season and I’m going to do my best to keep hold of the shirt alongside my brother.”

And on his brother taking over as skipper, he added: “He is a leader, always has been.

“It’s well deserved and he’s got the attitude you need.”

There could well be another first for the Walker family next season, and Steve knows which match his eyes will be drawn to when the Southern Premier League fixtures come out.

He added: “I’m looking forward to the Poole game because we’ve never had all three Walker brothers on the pitch at the same time.

“Michael is a talented player as well and now that he has gone to Poole it will make the games between us and them very interesting.

“The three of us could all be involved, though it will be two against one in Dorchester’s favour.”