All Hail The King
coburgtigers.com.au
All hail the King Tiger proves a surprise packet in debut year.
Andy Collins jokes that the Coburg Tigers have been trying to keep recruit Jake King under wraps. However, it’s tough to do, when King, 22, consistently finds his way into Coburg’s best players.
At Cricket Victoria, where Collins is the career and welfare manager, there is a program called ‘diamonds in the rough’. This term is certainly applicable to King.
As Collins explained, not everyone has to come through the conventional system. Collins believes you could go to a local football match on any given weekend and if you spoke to the right people, they would be able to identify the special players in the competition. “If you think if they are young enough and have a really good
upside to them, then why not? All this boy (King) wanted was a chance,” Collins said.
King made his way to the City Oval after being North Heidelberg’s best player in its 2005 premiership. It was a performance that saw him invited to do a pre-season with Essendon, but, when things didn’t pan out at Windy Hill, Collins was quick to swoop.
King came through the Northern Knights program in the TAC Cup, but his exposure was restricted to just three games because of stress fractures to his back. He then headed to North Heidelberg.
So, just how did King slip underneath the radar for so long? King is unsure. He wonders if it was simply a case of no one wanting to take a chance, as he doesn’t think he has improved dramatically, but rather matured.“I did my own thing before, but now I’m listening to people,” King said. “It’s weird. I’ve played the game for 10 years now and you think you know a fair bit about it, but this year has been incredible in how much I have learned.”
King credits Collins for bringing the best out of him. He said the Coburg Tigers coach was extremely positive and encouraging in how he approached not only himself, but all of the players. Collins, a genius at identifying young talent, believes King’s form warrants him being looked at seriously by AFL clubs at this year’s draft, as he played the back pocket the way it should be played. In an unqualified endorsement of King, Collins noted: “I look at him and think, ‘I wish I played the back pocket like that’ – and I played a few AFL games (212)’.
“Jake plays it pretty tough and quick and fair, and he has good hands and he is a good kick. He still has a lot to learn about the game, but in one way that is really promising, because he was never in the system. “I’m really excited to coach a kid like that.” This excitement is quite possibly shared by an increasing number of
AFL recruiting scouts.
http://coburgtigers.footballvic.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&aid=110426
