Cap space: Ben King believed to be keen to stay on Gold Coast as key forward co-pilot nears
The Suns have a rising list and now need a new coach, which is why recruiters believe any coaching prospects should be licking their lips to take over. Jay Clark analyses where the Suns are at.
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Once again Gold Coast will sit Ben King down and ask him to have faith.
The star spearhead of the AFL’s most underperformed club could become the most wanted player in the game if he made noises about exploring his options at the end of next season.
But while clubs are already queuing out the door for him, including Collingwood, St Kilda and Essendon, King isn’t ready to hit the ejector seat yet.
In fact, those close to King say that after buying a house on the Queensland coast and happily settling in with his partner, more than anything King just desperately wants to turn the Suns’ ship around.
It’s an admirable attitude considering the 23-year-old has won only 19 games across almost five seasons.
On Saturday night, when King was substituted off and sat on the bench as the Suns went down, again, to Port Adelaide, part of him must have thought it would be easier, in a sense, elsewhere.
He could be one of the biggest fish in the game in Melbourne, sign massive commercial deals, and look forward to playing at the MCG every second week on Friday nights marking balls kicked by Nick Daicos.
What a life.
Or he could play with his brother, Max, as part of the Ross Lyon revival at Moorabbin. Or make the same move as Tom Lynch to Richmond. It’s won him two flags.
But even after Gold Coast sacked its coach, Stuart Dew, and again asks its playing group for more time and patience under a new boss such as Damien Hardwick, King is prepared to dig in for his club.
Certainly, at least for this season and next, until his contract ends at the end of his sixth AFL season in 2024. Rival clubs have said they can forget about going after him this year.
But if the Suns have any hope of keeping the Sandringham product beyond then, arguably the two most important people in the bid to keep him aren’t even at the football club yet.
That’s Hardwick (we assume) who will bring an aura, a connectivity and the experience of leading a club from the footy dung heap to the promised land, and a kid called Jed Walter.
Hardwick is a commodity worth backing in. He’s a details man. He works one-on-one with players.
But equally his brand, game plan and emotional intelligence, broadly-speaking, have all triumphed.
And Walter is the powerhouse forward who will be a top-three pick in this year’s draft who will be shoehorned to the Suns, and play round 1 next year, as part of its academy.
He’s different from many key forwards, Walter. He’s manic on the defensive end, mobile and aggressive, and relentless in his pursuit to get involved in the air or ground level.
Like West Coast’s Josh Kennedy.
But the 195cm goal kicker, who tackles and chases and intimidates, isn’t the only jet incoming, in a big tick for the Suns’ academy program.
The sunny side of the Suns’ coin this year is they have three excellent academy talents coming in including the man who has dominated the national championships as a brilliant key forward, Walter.
It is no disrespect to Levi Casboult, who continues to punch above his weight and has provided enormous value for money across the past two years.
But the beauty for King is Walter is the kind of addition who will give King belief about the future. At least until he hits free agency in 2026.
But when Walter blossoms in coming years, King will have a top-line key forward co-pilot. A Jack Darling to the Josh Kennedy. A Jeremy Cameron to the Tom Hawkins.
A Batman and a Robin. Someone to share the load. A partnership. Not just for next season, but for the long-term. Towards a finals berth.
HIGHEST BIDDER
To land academy trio Walter, 200cm ruckman Ethan Read and speedy 172cm small forward Jake Rogers, the Suns are set to be among the biggest players in this year’s trade period, as they prepare to auction off pick six for a down-the-order points boost.
That is where clubs swap their top pick for multiple later picks which are worth more points in total on the draft value index.
It is significant as clubs such as Melbourne and Richmond are eyeing the Suns’ pick six as part of a plot to jump into the running for No. 1 talent Harley Reid.
Walter, like Reid, looks like a special talent, and someone who can make an immediate impact for the Suns’ in his first season in 2024.
A bid will come for Walter in the top-three, guaranteed.
But the Suns won’t make any apologies for being completely unbiased in their desire to secure the best deal possible, and the more points the better.
Inside the club, the Suns would already be running all the scenarios through a mathematical program to calculate what is required to nab all of Walter, Read and Rogers.
And the Demons, who have four golden egg draft picks in the first two rounds, including Fremantle’s first and second-round choice, are in the box seat to land the Suns’ pick six.
Said a list manager at another club, “That (pick six) will just go to the highest bidder”.
But what kind of list will the new coach (Hardwick) inherit?
A-GRADE
Aside from more collective experience, the Suns’ list doesn’t lack for much. They have been the sixth youngest team this season, according to Champion Data.
If anything, another recruiter said in the wake of the Dew sacking, there are “A-Graders everywhere there (at Gold Coast), and they are all on the rise.
“All their best talent is coming into their prime”.
It is why any new coach would be licking its lips. It is a club starved of success. And to use one of Ross Lyon’s poignant lines, “people under pressure are hungry to be led”.
King included.
But Walter will be a prized key forward addition, joining Jack Lukosius, star Bailey Humphrey and Malcolm Rosas Jr and Ben Ainsworth in the forward half. Chris Burgess may explore a trade.
Humphrey looks like a young Jordan De Goey and Lukosius can be the best kick in the competition.
Money won’t be a problem to keep King beyond next season, as Gold Coast and the clubs who want him will certainly serve up seven figures on a long-term deal for as many years as he wants.
The Suns got their cap in order last year offloading Jack Bowes to Geelong along with their top pick to make sure Gold Coast is back in a strong position to retain its stars.
The midfield has Matthew Rowell, Noah Anderson, Touk Miller, and would love Sam Flanders to come on for the agility and spring he provides.
Perhaps there is a need for more run on the wing.
Down back, it just all has to be settled down. There’s Charlie Ballard, Sam Collins and Lachie Weller.
Mac Andrew is the wildcard the way he can jump and intercept, and take risks on the rebound. If he can refine his kicking, lookout.
That explains the frustration from the Suns’ top brass as the club looks set to miss finals for the 13th-straight season.
The club rates the talent on its list. So do rival clubs. They were capable of more.
That’s why Dew got the flick, and the club on Tuesday did not back down from the harsh call.
Much like St Kilda when it sacked Brett Ratten for Lyon, and Essendon when it moved on Ben Rutten for Brad Scott. Both clubs are significantly improved this year, after mediocre decades.
The players at those clubs were upset for Rutten and Ratten, too, much like they are this week when Dew got the boot. But Essendon’s Dyson Heppell on Sunday said this was the most he had enjoyed his football in a long time.
The Sun will come up tomorrow on the playing group’s disappointment about Dew. And for players such as David Swallow, who has never tasted finals, the wait must be gut-wrenching.
When Jarrod Witts was traded from Collingwood in 2016 (for the picks which landed Josh Daicos), Witts said he believed the Suns were on the brink of something.
But that was almost seven years ago.
“I think the list has a lot of potential,” Witts said.
“I wanted to go somewhere that I think is going to have success and I believe that the Suns will.
“That was pretty important in my decision-making.”
NEXT CHAPTER
What the Suns will say they need is a blue-chip figurehead, next.
Not a coach with training wheels, as Chris Judd famously said about Carlton when it moved on Brendon Bolton for interim David Teague.
That is clearly Hardwick, who will appeal immensely to King, Rowell, Anderson, Witts and Miller and Co.
In the worst case scenario, King could request a trade at the end of next season, but it wouldn’t be an easy deal.
The Suns would want two first-round picks back, or an equivalent star.
The big difference in the Lynch move to Richmond was he left as a free agent, meaning the Suns received pick three (Izak Rankine) as compensation. Steve May was traded for pick six (King).
The following year the club was generously handed a priority selection at pick two (Anderson) after taking Rowell at No. 1. They’re the heartbeat of the rebuild.
And they have shown a huge commitment, locking in for the long-term.
Rowell and Andrew (2025), Lukosius and Weller (2026), Miller and Anderson (2027), Humphrey (2028) have already signed.
But the next domino to fall, King, will be the most important one.
Will he keep the faith, again?
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