Top draft prospect Ben King using twin brother Max King’s ACL tear as motivation to realise AFL dream
WHEN top draft prospect Max King tore his ACL earlier this year, his twin brother Ben couldn’t believe what he was seeing as he stood at the other end of the field. The brothers open up on the physical and emotional toll the injury has taken on them both.
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BEN King saw it, but he didn’t want to believe it.
It was the sight of twin brother, Max, lying on the ground clutching his knee in agony.
It is April 21 at the Haileybury College Keysborough campus and the 203cm King twins are doing what they normally do — piloting their school to another thrashing of another hapless rival.
Max has already announced himself as the nominal No.1 pick in a so-called 2018 super draft after a stunning 8.5 haul with six contested marks against Oakleigh Chargers in the TAC Cup three weeks earlier.
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Ben had 20 disposals and nine marks (four intercept and four contested) playing centre-half back in the same game.
The big kids were living the big dream until a routine marking contest at the start of the second quarter against Geelong Grammar changed everything.
“I half jumped for a mark and I was a bit off-balance and I just landed badly. I felt it pop and there was a lot of pain,” Max King said.
“I knew straight away. It was devastating.”
Ben, so used to watching his brother haul in high marks, couldn’t process what had happened.
“I was speechless, really. All the Haileybury boys came into a huddle, but I didn’t have anything to say. I was just looking down and thinking about it,” Ben said.
“I went into the rooms at halftime and straight into where he was and I asked dad if they knew what it was and he just gave me a nod. I was pretty emotional at half time, but I think I just used it as a motivation.”
So what did Ben do?
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He kicked 11 goals from 17 marks as his stricken brother received regular goal updates from friends darting back and forth from the changerooms.
Ben has now kicked 32 goals in six school games after his brother went down.
Moved forward for Vic Metro, he kicked five goals against Western Australia last weekend and the last-gasp winner against the Allies on Saturday.
The sons of Marni and Brook King were close at birth — born 60 seconds apart — and remain close on the doorstep of adulthood.
“We’re best mates,” Max said.
The boys grew up passionate St Kilda supporters and named Nick Riewoldt as their hero growing up. They went to the Saints’ 2009 and 2010 Grand Finals.
“I remember being pretty emotional. The one against Geelong, that was tough,” Ben said.
“We were right behind the goals and ‘Tomahawk’ (Tom Hawkins) hit the post and they called it a goal and that was pretty upsetting. I can remember that vividly.”
Their Haileybury College coach is Essendon great Matthew Lloyd, with the three of them regularly working together after training prior to Max’s injury.
Mum Marni, who described her son’s knee injury as one of the worst days of her life, said while Max had suffered physically, Ben had struggled mentally in the period after Max’s injury.
“Someone said it looked like the life had been sucked out of Ben. He’s not a quiet kid, but he went really quiet for quite a long time,” Marni said.
“It was like he’d lost his buddy for a bit. When they’re getting ready for school upstairs it’s like, ‘What are you doing up there? Just brush your teeth’.
“They’re wrestling, there’s holes in the wall.
“They’re always hanging out and I felt life had changed for Ben for a while.”
But they have always been what their mum described as “beyond their years” and while it is always hard watching rather than playing, Max takes comfort from the bigger picture.
Ben, too, has come out of the fog.
Max is still considered a top-10 pick and should be fit to start an AFL pre-season, while Ben could go as high as top three as he shines in front of goal.
Come November, they could be the first brothers, let alone twins, to go top 10 in the same AFL draft.
The kids are dreaming again.
“I think the ultimate is to win premierships and individually be as consistent and dominant as you can for the longest period of time,” Max said.
TWINS AT THE AFL DRAFT
1986: THE FEBEYS
Steven (Melbourne, pick 3) and Matthew (Melbourne, pick 16)
1992: THE WAKELINS
Shane (St Kilda, pick 31) and Darryl (Adelaide, pick 11 in ’93 pre-season draft)
1993: THE SCOTTS
Chris (Brisbane, pick 12) and Brad (Hawthorn, pick 60 in ’94 draft)
2000: THE LONIES
Ryan (Collingwood, pick 34) and Nathan (Hawthorn, pick 58)
2002: THE SELWOODS
Troy (Brisbane, pick 19) and Adam (West Coast, pick 53)
2006: THE BROWNS
Nathan (Collingwood, pick 10) and Mitch (West Coast, pick 16)
2013: THE KOLODJASHNIJS
Kade (Gold Coast, pick 5) and Jake (Geelong, pick 41)
2015: THE McKAYS
Harry (Carlton, pick 10) and Ben (North Melbourne, pick 21)
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