Saturday was a day to remember for Hampton Park ruck Jye King after he won his first ever senior premiership along with the best on ground medal.
The big man dominated the ruck battle in the 53-point victory, helped out in defence, gave his midfielders first use and gained territory at every opportunity.
The 28-year-old, who has played a variety of roles for the side this season, said he was “shocked” to receive the medal.
“I believe that the medal could’ve gone to a number of blokes, I don’t think you could say one player had a bad day which was amazing,” he said.
“After the game, you get people coming up to you saying “you were best on” but I genuinely couldn’t pick it, there were so many guys who had ripper games.
“The boys in the midfield made my job pretty easy, having them running around you in there gives you a lot of confidence.”
King originally played at Deer Park and East Keilor, but Hampton Park is where he has played his best footy.
He began the 2025 season in defence, locking down the league’s best forwards but was soon required in the middle after Mason Hawkins suffered an injury.
“At the start of the year I was playing mainly backline because we had big Hawk, but when he went down, I went into the middle, and it seemed to work for me.”
King was named in the best 14 times this season (including in 11 of the final 12 games) and polled 15 votes in the league best and fairest to finish sixth.
“This has definitely been my best season I have had for quite a long time,” he said.
“I have started to really enjoy my footy again and to top it off, my first senior flag so I couldn’t be happier.”
His strength, ability to read the ball, and his work rate around the ground made him the best ruckman in the league.
Just a couple of weeks ago against Highett, King put up 27 disposals, 45 hitouts, 13 clearances, eight tackles and 211 ranking points – numbers that are not uncommon for the big man.
When Hawkins returned on Saturday, King was happy to play whatever role required of him.
“I thought he might’ve went back into the ruck, but as you saw on Saturday, he went forward and was very dangerous down there,” he said.
“We were gelling in the midfield, and we managed to get the job done which was good.
“The plan now is to go up to Division 1 and be competitive, we have a lot of talent and room to grow.”
