by Jake Niall
When David King was drafted by North Melbourne, he could not have been less fashionable. He was 22 - old for an AFL debutant, especially from Victoria, and he was a graduate of the VFA.
Remember that 18-year-olds were all the rage in November '93, King's draft. Essendon had won a flag with young Keilor legs and everyone wanted teenagers. Take the kids, preferably from the trendy new state under-18 competition, and mould 'em was the prevailing mood and method.
The VFA was unfashionable. It has remained so, even with a change of name (VFL) and some restructuring. Carlton, though, has since won a premiership with a team topped up with twentysomething rejects and, predictably, there is more interest in late developers as a result.
King makes us wonder how many other late bloomers have slipped through the net. As Damian Drum, coach at Port Melbourne in King's last season there (1993), recalled that recruiting men took the view that because King hadn't been an elite junior, he was a risky proposition. "A lot of clubs kept saying, 'why didn't he play Teal Cup? Why didn't he play (AFL) under 19s'?" Drum says.
King said: "It was a bit strange at the time to be too old at 21."
Drum, though, was convinced King had the right stuff. He was fast, hard at the ball and could kick the
ball 60 metres. When Drum joined Sydney as assistant coach in '93, he persuaded the Swans to draft him.
The problem was that North got in first and grabbed him - at No. 46.
King might have been a late developer, but at 22 he was an immediate senior player, playing most of the games in '94 and last year. His coach, Denis Pagan, says King has made the next step this year. "He's come on in leaps and bounds and he's had a very good year," Pagan said.
In '94 and last year, King played mostly on the wing. His emergence to the next level this year can be
attributed, in part, to his shift to defence, mainly the back pocket, where his combination of straight-ahead
flair, pace and long kicking has made him the dasher of the North defence.
"Maybe the straight-ahead running has helped a bit," said King. "I played a lot of footy on the half-back line before North."
Drum believes King is far better suited to a hard-running defensive role than a midfield position. He kept King at half-back in 1993, although he was the stand-out player at Port and, as he was the team’s highest-possession winner, everyone kept asking Drum "why don’t you play him in the centre?"
Drum said: "He’s more damaging coming out of defence. He nearly carries the ball 20-25 metres and he can kick it 60 metres - the net result us 80-85 metres."
Pagan, who clearly likes King’s hard-hitting style, says: "He has the ability to read it and the courage to make the first move. He is a very attacking back-pocket player."
But Pagan recognised that King’s flair meant that, at times, he posed a defensive risk. "That’s the price you play when you play with such gutso. He’s very explosive. He’s a real burst player… very hard at it."
Remarkably, King was not a regular senior player at Port Melbourne in his first season and even played games in the twos in 1992. King says had he been snared by an AFL club at 18, he wouldn't have made it. "Physically, I wasn't strong enough."
King is testament to the importance of pace in the modern game. As Ronny De Iulio and Joheve shown at Carlton and Footscray respectively this year, there ie alraa quick player. It's one thing to ha thing to have pace, said King, the key is "learning to use to your advantage."
"I don't mind a bounce. I don't think Denis has a problem with it (running with the ball). There's a time and