He’s made season 2019/20 his own, starring at left back for large parts of the campaign, and he’s now topped it off with a Premiers medal.
We caught up with Joel King for a quick chat about season 2019/20, his thoughts on his performances and who he wants to face in the Hyundai A-League Semi-Finals.
Your first premiership you must be proud?
Yeah of course I’m proud, it’s a special trophy to win. I believe in our country the Championship is the biggest trophy to win but in saying that obviously the Premiership represents the team that was most consistent throughout the season. So it’s something we can all be proud of.
How does it feel to win silverware at such a young age?
To be honest I don’t think I will know how much of an achievement it is until a few years down the path. I’m aware that there’s many players that wait years to win silverware, so to have won a Premiership in my second year at the club really is a great feeling.
You’ve played a big part this season, do you feel like you’ve made it now?
Last year I played one dead rubber match and was fortunate enough to win a Championship medal. This year I’m glad to say that I’ve had a bit more of a contribution to our success. I didn’t expect to play as much as I did this year so I’m very fortunate and grateful for the opportunity I’ve had. Do I feel like I’ve made it? Definitely not, I’ve still got heaps to learn and a lot to improve on.
How would you rate your impact this season?
I think every game I went into this year I just focused on doing my job defensively then not over complicating things in attack. There’s players in our team that have much more quality on the ball than I do so I’d try to do my job defensively and then in attack I’d simply just give the ball to Ninko and he’d work his magic.
We’ve had a dip in form recently, how do we improve that for the Semis?
I think maybe we’ve just not mentally been there in the recent games. I think when it comes to Finals we just have to back ourselves and be confident that if we play at our best no one can beat us.
Who would you like to face in the Semis?
That’s a tough question, I think every team in the top 6 are a dangerous team to come up against. So to pick one is very difficult.
