Rookie to ham it up
Different diet behind King’s development
HIS Titans teammates jibe him for it but Max King’s diet full of ham sandwiches has in part helped him come back to the NRL a better player.
The rookie front-rower featured in five consecutive games earlier this season before breaking his right hand against Brisbane in Round 7.
King used his six weeks on the sidelines to assess how he could become a more valuable asset upon returning for his second stint of top level football. The 20-year-old identified gaining weight as a necessary measure to better handle the physicality involved with the NRL.
Having tipped the scales at as little as 99kg in the leadup to his debut in March, King now hovers around the 104kg mark. That gain largely came down to eating.
“I’m a massive pasta guy and the boys always get stuck into me about my ham sandwiches,” he said.
“I’m a bit lazy when it comes to my preparation and that and I wake up in the morning and I wouldn’t have cooked anything on that night (before). It’s just ham sandwich, for breakfast, lunch, dinner.
“I probably do like five or six a day. It’s been good to me, the bread.”
Standing tall at 190cm, he sees himself eventually filling out closer to 110kg but is in no rush to reach that figure.
Ahead of Gold Coast’s Round 15 match against South Sydney tonight – set to be his eighth in first grade – King added he is able to carry a calm approach into games.
“I felt in the early games I was pumped with adrenaline and anxious which is normal but it just took a lot of energy out of me,” he said.
“Now I feel calm … I feel like I can go back to playing 40, 50 minutes.”
While props are not considered to reach their peak until their mid-20s, both King and Titans coach Neil Henry believe exposure to the game’s best players – such as Rabbitoh Sam Burgess – will be advantageous.