Ben King has bid an emotional farewell to Gold Coast as he prepares to head home to Victoria on a big-money deal with Hawthorn.
The tall forward kicked three goals in the Suns’ dead-rubber win over St Kilda — who were without his injured twin brother Max — on Thursday night, bringing his tally to 315 before departing.
He said he had tried to focus on sending retiring teammate Nick Holman out on a high but conceded his own exit was on his mind.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
King began his post-game interview with Channel 7’s Mitch Cleary by paying tribute to St Kilda’s 300-game milestone man Brad Hill and Holman.
“Unbelievable effort. He’s a great player of our game, a real role model for the Indigenous community,” King said of Hill.
“It’s been a great career so far and he’s a great character.”
King said coach Damien Hardwick’s hopes of ending the season with a win “centred around Holman”.
“He’s been a great clubman for us through some really tough years and he’s the most loved bloke probably that we’ve had at the club so to send him off the right way was really important,” he said.
The 26-year-old then opened up about his own future.
King was tipped to re-sign with the Suns earlier this year before making a stunning backflip behind the scenes to prioritise a deal with the Hawks.
“Yeah obviously it’s time to to work through that now,” he said.
“To be honest, I’ve been just trying to get through game to game and trying to get some wins on the board and finish off properly.
“Obviously there’s a bit to work through there. I’m sure that’ll happen when it happens.
“But so proud of this group and I’ve absolutely loved playing with these boys.”
Asked if he went into the game thinking it could be his last appearance for the Suns, King admitted “yeah, it could be”.
“Obviously there’s still a lot to work through,” he said.
“But I just think whatever happens over the next couple of months, I love this group of blokes and yeah, it’s been really special.”
Kane Cornes noted King was “quite emotional” while Cleary said the forward had stuck it out with Gold Coast longer than many expected.
“Quite emotional on that last answer there — this footy club has meant a lot to him,” Cleary said.
“He’s had chances over the time previously to return home to Victoria. He’s gone in two increments (with short contracts) to extend now into free agency in his eighth year. But he is headed back to Victoria.
“Although he didn’t want to say it himself, he wants to go and sing the song with his teammates and and remember his time as a Gold Coast Sun with one final win.
“Even his teammates, as we approached him for the interview, were just sort of huddling up around him, trying to allow him the chance not to do the interview.
“But he was a good sport to go ahead with it and now we wait to see the trade go through to the Hawthorn footy club.”
The Suns may yet opt against matching King’s deal with the Hawks, which would force them to the trade table, and instead accept top draft compensation from the AFL.
“It’s pick No.6 if they decide to accept the compensation,” Cleary said.
“Or they can match it and force a trade. But it might be hard to see Hawthorn stumping up much more than that so it may be in Gold Coast’s best interest to take that pick No.6.”
