“You look at the media, and who picks Max King in their team? I don’t think I saw one [expert] team with Max King in it.”
That was what 28-year-old Bulldogs prop Max King was reading and hearing ahead of Origin selections on Sunday night.
The answer? Laurie Daley.
The NSW coach named King as his only debutant for game one of the 2025 State of Origin Series at Suncorp Stadium on May 28, and revealed it was a Magic Round moment at the same venue three weeks ago that all but sealed his spot in the team.
“Max King, he’s played outstanding … I think Max’s actions as a footballer go unnoticed by a lot of people, but it doesn’t go unnoticed by the coaching staff,” Daley said.
“And there was one particular moment, I think actually it was in Magic Round, so two weeks, three weeks ago, after 20 minutes, Max had made a run and tackled probably four metres out under the sticks.
“The Dogs moved the ball to the left. They dropped it. [A Titans player] picks it up and runs 80 metres, gets tackled. The Titans move the ball from the left. The next person who made that tackle was Max King.
“So he got back there because he knew how urgent it was for his teammates. So that’s an action that I look for. And to me, that’s a guy that cares about his team, cares about his teammates and that’s the type of player I want.”
But King’s Origin debut would never have happened had Bulldogs boss Phil Gould not thrown him a lifeline in 2022.
King missed the entire 2021 season after suffering an Achilles injury, and complications after surgery threatened to end his career entirely. But after two seasons with the Melbourne Storm and three with the Titans to start his career, Gould was willing to give King a chance at Belmore.
Bulldogs prop Max King dons the Blues jersey on Monday.Credit: Dylan Coker
“It [Achilles injury] was just something that couldn’t seem to come good,” King said. “It was probably about two years out [of the game], and it was a dark time… I sort of had to deal with this wrestle – I’ve played 50 games of NRL at a mediocre level, 20 minutes off the bench, and now I’ve had a permanent injury that I can’t recover from.
“I was out for two years, I was off contract, I didn’t know what I was doing. And then Gus reaching out and sort of giving me that lifeline, everything coming off the back of that. It’s easy to look back and think where you’ve come from, but at the time it was definitely a tough time, and I’m just thankful where I am now.”
In his fourth season with Canterbury, King’s football has never been better, and while Origin was always the dream, King thought the opportunity may have passed him by.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play Origin, but I’m now 28. It’s not super old, but I’ve never been anywhere close [to Origin] in my career,” King said.
“It’s funny, I sort of did some reflecting in the off-season … I just wanted more. First day of pre-season, I sat down with [Bulldogs coach Cameron] Ciraldo, and I handed him a piece of paper and I said, I want you to write down what is a perfect front rower, I just wanted to evolve…just focusing on being better rather than being happy with where I am in life.”
King knew he was on Daley’s radar because the Blues coach put in a call to Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo to let him know he was in the mix, but it was still a shock when he got the official phone call late on Sunday night.
“I wasn’t sure, I didn’t know how my form was the last couple of weeks and I think also, you look at the media, and who picks Max King in their team? I don’t think I saw one team list with Max King in it. You just see it, it’s hard not to know it.
“I’d never spoken to Laurie before until the phone call, so I had no idea what they were thinking, and there are a lot of quality players out there, and there are a lot of quality players that are in this side, but there are a lot of quality players that have missed out as well.
“Yesterday was a long day because we had training on Sunday and I thought Gus or Ciro [Ciraldo] or someone will tell me at training … and no one said anything, and then it wasn’t until seven or eight o’clock at night that Laurie called. It made the wait worth it, for sure, it was a pretty special phone call.”
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