The King question (From This Is Cheshire)

The King question

3:00pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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IT is a problem that many coaches would dream of having.

Wolves’ Australian threequarter Matt King has been in electric form in the last couple of weeks and he is giving boss Tony Smith a headache when it comes to selecting his starting XIII.

The former Melbourne Storm centre has scored four tries in his last two games - two of which have come when playing in his preferred position of centre - although he has spent considerably more time on the wing in his primrose and blue career so far.

First-team coach Jimmy Lowes believes King’s hard work in pre-season is paying off on the back of a much-improved 2009 that followed a below-par first year with the club in 2008.

He said: “Kingy deserves all the praise he gets, especially after what he has been through since he first arrived and he has worked extremely hard.”

During the battle with Huddersfield at the Galpharm Stadium and again when facing Crusaders last week, King was given free reign to move into the centres, both on the right and left of the pitch, and was nearly unstoppable going forward.

But before the Giants game King was spending the majority of time on the left wing outside of Ryan Atkins and barely had the chance to make an impact - as Warrington’s right-side was more dominant in matches.

It would seem then that King should get the chance to play at centre and continue his rich vein of scoring form.

But in reality it is not that easy as the sheer number of quality backs that Wolves have at their disposal is giving Smith real difficulty in picking his strongest team.

Lowes admits that the ‘King question’ is a problem that Smith will have to overcome soon.

He said: “I don’t think there is an answer to the ‘King question’ at the moment.

“He’s linking up nicely with Ryan Atkins on the left and then he goes and switches sides and starts doing the same with Chris Hicks, so it is really a fantastic headache to have.

“I think if someone is struggling or gets injured, for example Ryan Atkins or Chris Bridge, then King could go in there and they would find it very hard to get back in if he carries on in the way he has done.”

There are currently six players fighting it out for just five positions, as the return of Chris Hicks, Chris Bridge and Richie Mathers over the last few weeks means this could be the first time that Smith will be forced to leave one player on the bench.

Chris Riley filled in at full back last week in the absence of injured Mathers, while Chris Hicks – who replaced Riley on the wing last weekend – came back from injury the week before when Chris Bridge was missing with injury.

If Mathers returns to full back tomorrow, that leaves Riley, Hicks and King as wing options and one of them missing out .

King’s electric form has already been mentioned, but Riley is Wolves’ leading scorer this season and Hicks, who has scored in both games since his return, was top scorer last season.

That problem would be answered if King is preferred at centre, which would mean first-choice centres Bridge or Atkins sitting it out on the bench.

If the decision was based on scoring tries, although that is not the only focus of the backs, then Atkins would be the casualty as he is the only one of the six not to have scored, but his defensive workrate and raw brute strength going forward means that Smith will have to think long and hard before dropping him in favour of one of the others.

There are further options, of course.

With Lee Briers still suffering with his ankle injury, Bridge could start at half back – a role he played well for spells against Crusaders despite not feeling comfortable in the position.

Or Smith could leave Riley at full back and play Mathers at stand off, a position he figured in for his first professional club Leeds as well as training in the role during pre-season and would have been at number six in the pre-season friendly against Widnes had the clash not been cancelled due to bad weather.

But that would mean finding a position for Simon Grix, an ever-present so far this year who has already done a good job off the bench, at half back, at centre and in the back row.

Whatever Smith decides it will be safe to assume that King will appear in the starting XIII to face Bradford on Saturday, as the Wolves coach has twice stated that King is in ‘sensational’ form.

When compared to some of the problems currently faced by other Super League coaches, Smith will readily admit that this is one problem that he really doesn’t mind having.