Steven King (footballer)

Steven King
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Personal information
Date of birth	(1978-11-22) 22 November 1978
Place of birth	Shepparton, Victoria
Original team(s)	Murray Bushrangers (TAC Cup)
Debut	Round 5, 27 April 1996, Geelong v. Richmond, at Skilled Stadium
Height/Weight	202 cm / 105 kg
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1996–2007 2008–2010 Total -	Geelong St Kilda	193 (75) 047 0(8) 240 (83)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2010 season.
Career highlights
AFL St Kilda NAB Cup winning side 2008 Geelong premiership player 2007 All-Australian team 2000 International Rules team 2000 Geelong Football Club Geelong Best & Fairest 2000, 2002 Geelong captain 2003–2006 Geelong VFL premiership player 2007

Steven King (born 22 November 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer for Geelong and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently serving as the midfield coach of the Western Bulldogs.

AFL career

Geelong

Debuting as a 17-year-old with the Geelong Cats in 1996, King is a gifted ruckman. He won All-Australian selection and won the Carji Greeves Medal in 2000 and again in 2002. He was captain of the club between 2003 and 2006. In 2005, King was hit by numerous injuries, which affected his form.

File:2 & 15. Steven King & Michael Gardiner, St Kilda FC 01.jpg

King (right) running laps with Michael Gardiner at training prior to the 2009 AFL Grand Final

A moment of controversy occurred in King's career in the 2005 Elimination Final, when he accidentally kicked Melbourne's Jeff White in the head. Both men were contesting a boundary throw in, and it was knocked to the ground. King was the man in front, and when the ball bounced up to head height, he took a mighty swing at it with his right foot. He missed the ball completely, but connected with White's face, giving him injuries which have been described as "equivalent to those of a car accident victim," requiring White to have several plates and screws inserted.

Media commentators and fans were largely divided about whether King should have faced the tribunal for kicking, historically the most heavily penalised infringement whether accidental or intentional. Eventually, the Match Review Panel decided that he had no case to answer, and he was free to play in the semi-final against Sydney the following week. Somewhat ironically, a hamstring injury in the third quarter of that game coincided with a Sydney comeback, and eventually victory.

King fell out of favour in 2007, playing only a handful of AFL games and was dropped to the Victorian Football League in favour of Brad Ottens and Mark Blake. In Round 18, playing in the AFL when Ottens was rested, he took a mark over goal umpire Michael Hammond – an awkward half-speckie/half-collision which sent the umpire crashing to the ground; for the second time in his career, despite the AFL's generally strict application of the rule prohibiting contact with field umpires, King avoided tribunal action, with the Match Review Panel deeming that the goal umpire had contributed to the clash, due to the fact that he moved towards the ball as it began to fall.

King continued to perform strongly in the VFL, and played in the Cats' 2007 VFL premiership against Coburg on 23 September. Following weak finals performances by Mark Blake, King received a recall to the senior team for the AFL Grand Final, despite Blake having played more games during the season. King then participated in the Cats' 2007 AFL premiership win against Port Adelaide on 29 September, giving him his second premiership medallion within seven days.

St Kilda

Following Mark Blake re-signing as the number two ruckman, King was offered a one year contract on reduced pay, which he declined. Lacking space in their salary cap, Geelong then asked King to retire, but eventually traded him, along with Charlie Gardiner, to St Kilda for a sixth round selection in the 2007 national draft (nominally number; not used).

2008 season

King played in St Kilda’s 2008 NAB Cup winning side – St Kilda's third pre-season cup win.

King played 22 games in 2008 and carried St Kilda's ruck division with 408 hitouts.

2009 season

King played in 16 of 22 matches in the 2009 AFL season home and away rounds in which St Kilda qualified in first position for the 2009 finals, winning the club’s third minor premiership.

St Kilda qualified for the 2009 AFL Grand Final after qualifying and preliminary finals wins. King played in the grand final in which St Kilda were defeated by 12 points by his former club Geelong.

2010 season

On 16 September 2010, King announced his retirement. He played six games for the year, but was being kept out by emerging ruckman, Ben McEvoy. He has accepted a coaching role at St Kilda.

Personal life

King married his longtime girlfriend and former Price Is Right model, Danielle Atkin, in October 2008. They have a son, Oscar William, born on 16 July 2009 and a daughter, Dahlia Janys, born on 2 August 2011.

Statistics

Season	Team	#	Games	D	K	H	M	T	H/O	G	B	D	K	H	M	T	H/O	G	B
			Totals									Averages (per game)
1996	Geelong	1	13	136	81	55	38	13	113	3	2	10.5	6.2	4.2	2.9	1.0	8.7	0.2	0.2
1997	Geelong	1	22	293	202	91	94	24	200	8	5	13.3	9.2	4.1	4.3	1.1	9.1	0.4	0.2
1998	Geelong	1	11	136	89	47	60	9	130	1	2	12.4	8.1	4.3	5.5	0.8	11.8	0.1	0.2
1999	Geelong	1	17	194	134	60	63	29	193	14	12	11.4	7.9	3.5	3.7	1.7	11.4	0.8	0.7
2000	Geelong	1	23	372	252	120	82	43	493	12	10	16.2	11.0	5.2	3.6	1.9	21.4	0.5	0.4
2001	Geelong	1	16	242	161	81	76	40	328	11	3	15.1	10.1	5.1	4.8	2.5	20.5	0.7	0.2
2002	Geelong	1	22	372	237	135	100	52	531	14	9	16.9	10.8	6.1	4.5	2.4	24.1	0.6	0.4
2003	Geelong	1	13	175	95	80	49	29	341	2	4	13.5	7.3	6.2	3.8	2.2	26.2	0.2	0.3
2004	Geelong	1	16	193	126	67	55	40	369	6	4	12.1	7.9	4.2	3.4	2.5	23.1	0.4	0.3
2005	Geelong	1	18	225	140	85	69	30	271	3	0	12.5	7.8	4.7	3.8	1.7	15.1	0.2	0.0
2006	Geelong	1	16	213	116	97	67	23	214	1	1	13.3	7.3	6.1	4.2	1.4	13.4	0.1	0.1
2007	Geelong	1	6	58	18	40	18	22	81	0	1	9.7	3.0	6.7	3.0	3.7	13.5	0.0	0.2
2008	St Kilda	2	22	241	131	110	70	60	408	5	4	11.0	6.0	5.0	3.2	2.7	18.5	0.2	0.2
2009	St Kilda	2	19	166	81	85	43	43	286	3	1	8.7	4.3	4.5	2.3	2.3	15.1	0.2	0.1
2010	St Kilda	2	6	48	22	26	14	11	82	0	0	8.0	3.7	4.3	2.3	1.8	13.7	0.0	0.0
Career			240	3064	1885	1179	898	468	4040	83	58	12.8	7.9	4.9	3.7	2.0	16.8	0.3	0.2

External links

• St Kilda Profile – Steven King
• Steven King's statistics from AFL Tables

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ben Graham	Geelong Football Club captain 2002–2006	Succeeded by Tom Harley
Awards
Preceded by Ben Graham	Carji Greeves Medal 2000	Succeeded by Brenton Sanderson
Preceded by Brenton Sanderson	Carji Greeves Medal 2002	Succeeded by Matthew Scarlett