3 minute read

Storm NRL recruit Max King faces a battle to earn his own Max King spotlight in Melbourne, where St Kilda's AFL young gun of the same name also plays.

It didn't take Max King long to realise he's now playing in an AFL town.

The Storm recruit arrived in Melbourne on Monday night after being released by the Gold Coast Titans.

The young prop thought his arrival may have made the news in Melbourne when he heard his name on the radio while driving from the airport.

But the only Max King that counts in Melbourne - at the moment - is St Kilda's 2018 top draft pick, who recently suffered an ankle injury.

"The radio was on and they started mentioning Max King and I thought, 'Geez, I'm making some noise here', then it turned out they were talking about the AFL player," King said on Tuesday.

Rugby league's King is hoping to capture some of the spotlight after signing with the competition front-runners until the end of 2020.

But joining the pack the 22-year-old rated as the NRL benchmark, King said he had a lot of work to do.

"I think I'm an NRL player and it's something I've set my sights on but my biggest focus at the moment is to become a better player," King said.

"I don't know that I would come to the best club in the NRL if I just wanted to play NRL, you know what I mean?

"If I've earned an opportunity I'll take it with both hands and do my best."

King, who played 38 games with the Titans, joins the Storm with strong league pedigree after his dad Peter and grandfather Johnny both played at the top level.

Storm assistant coach Jason Ryles believed he had a big future with Melbourne.

"There's a lot of upside to Max," Ryles said.

"He has really good leg speed and once we do a little bit of work with him hopefully we can see some areas of improvement in little areas of his game."