Former Tiger Jake King to pull on the boots again
Keen to “go out and have a kick at the footy at community level”, former Tiger cult hero Jake King will pull on the boots again for the first time in three years.
Local Footy
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Colourful former Richmond player Jake “The Push-Up’’ King is making a comeback to football, signing at Port Melbourne Colts in the Southern league.
The Colts have put through a clearance for King, 35, who has been training with the club since January.
Aside from a charity match at MacLeod in 2017, King has played no football since retiring from the Tigers at the end of 2014.
He will be one of many former AFL stars playing suburban footy this year.
Colts president Steve Duvnjak said King had friends at the club and wanted to “just go out and have a kick at the footy at community level’’.
He’ll also serve as an assistant to Colts senior coach and former Western Bulldogs star Lindsay Gilbee.
“He thinks local football has given him so much, and after his hiatus from football he’s been looking to come back and put something back,’’ Duvnjak said.
“He looks very fit – he reckons he’s as fit as he’s ever been – and he’s looking to play 10-plus games.
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“He’s feeling really comfortable at the club – the players, the coaching staff, our new facilities, where we’re heading – and he wants to be part of it.’’
King’s business, City of Ink, is in South Melbourne, not far from Port Colt’s ground at Murphy Reserve.
King first came to attention at VFL club Coburg, sharing the best and fairest in 2006.
Richmond recruited him as a rookie and, 178cm but powerful, he rose from it to play 107 AFL games.
A toe injury shunted him into retirement midway through the 2014 season.
“He’s the one of those players that players play taller around knowing that he’s around,” Tigers coach Damian Hardwick said when King closed his career.
“He is a player that I loved having in the side, he was always one of my first picked because of the way he played. The way he represented the jumper and it’s what we want all our players to be like.
“If you could put him in a bottle and give it to all our players we would be a better footy club as a result.”
It’s been a profitable off-season for the Colts, who have also recruited Deer Park champion Kwame McHarg and regained key forward Jase Perkins, also from Deer Park.
King will come up against his former Richmond teammate Dan Connors in the Southern league this year.
Connors has signed at St Kilda City.
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