Matt King

Former Casino (NSW) junior, the brother of first graders Chris (P’matta) and Andrew King (four clubs, including Manly), has become something of a cult hero with Storm fans. Matt King’s unwieldy hairstyle, which earned him the nickname ‘Sideshow Bob’ after one of the popular Simpson characters, was often prominent in crossing the tryline in 2004. That year he represented Country Origin after just 11 games with Melbourne but rep honours came quickly the following year. King played in all three matches in NSW’s State of Origin win in 2005, crossing for a hat-trick of tries in the deciding match of the series in Brisbane, and was a try-scorer on debut for Australia in the shock 38-28 loss to NZ in Sydney at the end of the year. King appeared in all six Tests (v NZ, GB and France) at the end of the year. However, following NSW’s loss in the 2006 Origin series and Melbourne’s loss in the grand final, King surrendered his wing position after three appearances against NZ (the one-off Test in May and two Tri-Nations Tests) to accommodate the good from of Brisbane pair Justin Hodges and Brent Tate.