Melbourne After moving to the Storm's feeder club in Brisbane, King played for nearly a year before being selected to make his début in the
National Rugby League at the age of 23 against the
St George Illawarra Dragons at
WIN Stadium in round 24 of the
2003 season, impressing on his début without scoring. King went on to make another two appearances for the club in the regular season that year, scoring his first try in round 26 against the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. The
2004 NRL season saw King develop further as a player at the Storm, he cemented his place in the squad and was vital in the Melbourne side's attack, becoming a potent offensive weapon with his agility, pace, strength and ability to find the try line. At the conclusion of the 2004 club season, King finished with a total of fifteen tries and had developed into one of the up-and-coming centres in rugby league. This was recognised with his selection in the annual
City vs Country match for the Country side. He was also named as the Storm's rookie of the year. 2005 became the season where King would stamp his mark on rugby league, beginning the season by scoring seven tries in the first seven games of the season including a set of doubles against
Brisbane and
Canberra and again impressing City v Country selectors enough to be again selected in the annual clash. After further impressive performances King was called up for his first major representative honour, being selected for the
New South Wales State of Origin side for all three games in 2005. In the decider he became the 9th player (and 4th New south Welshman) to score a hat-trick in state of Origin. King finished the 2005 season at Melbourne with fourteen tries, and coupled with his three for New South Wales, earned a spot in the Australian international side for the 2005 tour of Great Britain. He played in every game on tour and was again selected out of position on the wing, yet played well enough to earn praise from the Great Britain and Ireland international winger
Brian Carney who stated King was "the best winger in the world". The following year in 2006 started off slowly for King, but as the year progressed he worked his way into form again. He was once again selected in the New South Wales side again for the annual State of Origin series, which NSW lost 2–1 to Queensland. After his side's 15–8 loss to the
Brisbane Broncos in the
2006 NRL grand final, in which he scored a try, he cost his club $5,000 after publicly criticising match referee
Paul Simpkins. King was selected to play for the
Australian national team on the wing in the 2007
ANZAC Test match against New Zealand, scoring a
try in the Kangaroos' 30–6 victory. After being consistently linked with a move to the
Super League during the early half of 2007, Matt King finally announced on 10 July 2007, that he had signed a four-year deal with the
Warrington Wolves. The deal was worth approximately A$600,000 a year, making King one of the highest paid players in rugby league. In September 2007, he finally realised his dream of playing in a premiership. Melbourne won convincingly over Manly-Warringah, 34–8, and King scored an inspiring try in his last game in the
NRL. Overcome with emotions, King admitted when interviewed that he had been crying shortly after the victory and that this was "the best feeling ever". Melbourne was subsequently stripped of this premiership due to major and deliberate salary cap breaches.
Warrington Wolves King started playing in England with the
Warrington Wolves for 2008's
Super League XIII. In the semi-final of the
2009 Challenge Cup against
Wigan Warriors, King scored a
hat-trick of tries to help Warrington Wolves book a place in the Wembley final for the first time in nearly 20 years. He played in the Challenge cup when the Wolves defeated the Giants on 29 August, 25–16 ironically the same day his previous club, Storm, played their last game at
Olympic Park Stadium. On 28 November 2008, King married his longtime girlfriend Kirsten Deane in
Richmond who he had met while living and playing in Melbourne. His bridal party included former teammates
Ian Donnelly,
Dallas Johnson and
Cooper Cronk, while guests included
Craig Bellamy,
Billy Slater and
Matt Geyer. He played in the
2010 Challenge Cup Final victory over the
Leeds Rhinos at
Wembley Stadium. King was selected for the
Exiles squad for the
International Origin match against
England at
Headingley on 10 June 2011. On 29 June 2011 King announced that he would leave the
Warrington Wolves at the end of 2011's
Super League XVI to join up with departing
Wigan Warriors coach,
Michael Maguire at
Russell Crowe's
NRL team, the
South Sydney Rabbitohs.
South Sydney King joined the
South Sydney Rabbitohs from 2012 onwards on a three-year contract at the NRL club, joining former Melbourne teammates
Greg Inglis and
Michael Crocker who had both been playing for the Redfern club for a few seasons. It was announced that he would captain the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the
2012 NRL season along with
Michael Crocker,
John Sutton,
Roy Asotasi and
Sam Burgess. An arm injury kept King out of most of the
2013 South Sydney Rabbitohs season. King played 8 games for Souths feeder club side the
North Sydney Bears in the 2013
NSW Cup scoring 5 tries. Unable to regain the form he had at Melbourne, he retired at the end of the season. In 2015, King returned to the
South Sydney Rabbitohs side for the Auckland Nines Competition scoring four tries, including the grand final winning try against Cronulla-Sutherland in extra time. == Statistics ==