Ben King has earned himself the Round 19 NAB AFL Rising Star nomination after an impressive four goal performance against Essendon.

King was drafted with Pick #6 in the 2018 NAB AFL Draft, before making his AFL debut in Round 9 against the Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

After playing consistently across his 10 game AFL career, the 19-year old said he had been building towards the performance on Sunday afternoon at Metricon Stadium.

“It feels pretty good, I feel like my form has been building over the last 10 games and feeling a lot more confident out there,” King said.



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“I’ve been doing the work during the week and I’ve been getting to contests and they just haven’t quite been sticking, but it’s good to finally take a few marks.

“I’ve been working really closely with the coaches on my marking, one of my strengths is my run and jump at the ball so I’ve been trying to maximise that during games.”

Looking back on his first year in the AFL competition, King said he had to adapt to play senior football for the first time.



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“It’s my first year playing against men, it took a bit of adjusting at the start, but I’m feeling really confident now and all the work I’m doing outside of gameday is starting to pay off.”

“Hopefully I can play out the rest of the season, play some consistent football and get a couple of wins on the board.”

King is the club’s first rising star nomination for the 2019 Season.