New Melbourne coach Steven King expects to return to finals next year

New Melbourne coach Steven King told the Demons that he was the coach they were “screaming out for” during their hunt for Simon Goodwin’s replacement, and said he’d take pride in helping Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver return to the top of their game.

The experienced former assistant, who worked at St Kilda, Western Bulldogs, Gold Coast and Geelong (where he will continue until the Cats’ season ends), convinced Melbourne he could revive a club that once appeared on the cusp of a dynasty.

King, who played 240 games as a ruckman, beat a shortlisted field of five candidates, including ex-Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, James Kelly, Brendon Lade and Daniel Giansiracusa, after missing out on West Coast’s job 12 months ago.

Goodwin led the Dees to a drought-busting AFL flag in 2021, with King in the opposing coaches’ box overseeing the Bulldogs’ midfield, but Melbourne never won another final and missed September altogether the past two seasons.

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It became obvious since Melbourne’s board approved Goodwin’s sacking on August 4 that they hungered for a fresh game style after the same issues around ball movement and a lack of connectivity with their forwards lingered year after year.

King believes he can deliver that contemporary style to ensure a list led by veterans Max Gawn, Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney, Steven May and co. can experience success again as soon as next season.

He was adamant he wanted all those senior premiership stars to remain at the club, too, after Petracca and Oliver flirted last year with playing elsewhere.

Of Petracca and Oliver, in particular, King said: “They’re both superstars of the competition for what they’ve done, so to get the opportunity to work with those guys and get them back to playing their best footy would be something that I’d pride myself on as a coach.”

King said he was excited to get started.

“I understand what a privilege it is, but also [that it is] a wonderful opportunity. Going through the process, I became more and more sure that I was the right fit for the job. I feel like I bring a skill set, and I’ve had a wonderful experience in some great organisations with terrific cultures and environments.

“I’m sure my idea around how I want the game to be played will give our players some freedom to express themselves with ball in hand, and to be really aggressive in every phase of the game.”

King was careful to be respectful of Goodwin, whom he plans to catch up with “once the dust settles”, and preferred not to give his take on why the Demons crumbled from a competition force to consecutive straight-sets exits then back-to-back 14th-place finishes.

They remained strong in the contest, but continually failed to score efficiently, which King has a theory on.

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“I really admire what this club’s done in the past. I’ve been on the receiving end of that ’21 grand final as a midfield coach, so I know the force that’s there,” he said.

“I know the physicality, the aggression that the players have. I just want them to probably play with a bit more freedom with ball in hand. We need to challenge teams in attack a little bit more. As you see in today’s footy, teams put scores on the board.

“I want to be a really balanced football team. I want our players to get after each phase of the game, regardless of what position they play, and join in.”

King’s wife Danielle and their children – Oscar, Dahlia, Harvey and Harry – travelled down from the Gold Coast to have a front-row seat to his new life as Melbourne coach. King credited their support for him making it this far, ahead of arguably his greatest challenge in football.

“I’ve always loved being around footy clubs. I love the people. I’ve had the greatest experience in footy, and I feel really humbled by what I’ve been through and the experiences and the environments I’ve witnessed,” he said.

“I want to share that with others. I feel like my career didn’t finish the way I would have wanted, playing twos at Sandringham when I was on St Kilda’s list [but that] probably kick-started, and ignited within me, the passion of coaching, and making others better.

“I’m acutely aware that those opportunities don’t come around too often … but the one thing I did know [was] I wanted to be a leader in this industry, whether that be coaching, mentoring, whatever it was.”

King, who plans to create a “fun” environment that his players “want to be at”, played under Mark Thompson and Ross Lyon, and was an assistant for Lyon, Brendan McCartney, Luke Beveridge, Stuart Dew and most recently Chris Scott.

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He was also the Suns’ interim coach for seven games after Dew’s departure in 2023.

The Demons could go in two different directions, given their balance of veteran stars and talented youth, including first-round picks Caleb Windsor, Koltyn Tholstrup, Harvey Langford and Xavier Lindsay, but King said his expectation was that they would return to finals next season.

“I feel like every staff member and every player should expect to play finals next year,” he said.

“I’d be really disappointed if that wasn’t an expectation. There are no guarantees in footy – I’m aware of that –but if you don’t expect something, you won’t get it. So, you have to get after it. I’m a firm believer in visualising what you want to get after, go chase it, and make everyone else catch up.”

King planned to spend Monday afternoon with football manager Alan Richardson, list boss Tim Lamb and recruiting manager Jason Taylor, and will catch up with as many of his players as possible in the weeks ahead.

But by 5.30am tomorrow, the 46-year-old will be driving back down the highway to resume helping Geelong plot Hawthorn’s downfall on Friday night.

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