Geelong assistant coach Steven King has been taken to hospital following a medical episode during the Cats’ training session at GMHBA Stadium on Friday.
The players went off the field as King, who is one of the three final candidates for the vacant West Coast coaching position, received attention.
King was Geelong skipper from 2003-2006 and played in the Cats’ drought-breaking premiership in 2007. He played under Ross Lyon at the Saints before beginning his coaching career alongside Brendan McCartney and Luke Beveridge with the Western Bulldogs, where he spent 10 years.
Cats assistant coach Steven King.Credit: AFL Photos
He was on the Bulldogs’ coaching panel when the club won the 2016 premiership and became a senior assistant to Beveridge in 2019, part of the coaching panel that led the club to the 2021 grand final. King then joined Gold Coast as senior assistant to Stuart Dew in 2022 before being the caretaker coach for the final seven matches of 2023 after Dew was sacked. He then left to return to Geelong in 2024.
While in the running for the West Coast job, his focus is on the Cats’ finals campaign with Geelong in the preliminary final against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday.
The 45-year-old collapsed on the field while talking to colleagues and players and was quickly tended to by medical staff.
He remained under observation in hospital on Friday with club officials expecting him to recover. Coach Chris Scott said it was not a life-threatening situation.
Scott added it is unlikely King will be part of the coaching panel at the MCG on Saturday.
More to come
With AAP
