KEY POINTS:
Forget the bravado - tomorrow's grand final will be personal for England-bound Melbourne centre Matt King.
The likeable test star will bring an end to his five-year stay in the Victorian capital when he runs out to take on Manly at Stadium Australia.
The match will close the
book on a career which has seen King rise from little-known reserve grader with big hair to cult hero and international representative capable of matching it with the world's best backs.
Normally as laid back as a lizard lying in the sun, King started to show the first signs that the pressure was getting to him this week, fed up with questions over his feelings heading into his final game in Australia.
"It's weird to me that you guys [the media] can't comprehend me thinking about anything other than a grand final," King said.
"To me that's all it's ever been about, I've never been thinking about me leaving the club."
It's a line of questioning King has been forced to deal with since agreeing to a massive four-year deal with Warrington in the English Super League.
But the brave front only lasted so long, King finally revealing the emotional baggage he carries into tomorrow night's decider.
"If we can achieve what we set out to do on Sunday night, don't worry, there'll be some tears or something going on, it will be emotional," King said.
"I think I'll deal with that once the game's over.
"After the grand final there's a Spring Carnival to get through with the boys and a few weekends before I take off so there's going to be plenty of time for hugs and kisses."
King admitted this week that he had been taken aback by the volume of interest in his decision to leave. Calls were made for the NRL to stop the player drain to England, critics claiming the situation had reached crisis point when a player such as King - a 27-year-old current test player - could be poached.
"It did take me a bit by shock that there was so much interest in me going away," King said.
"Being down in Melbourne has been a blessing for my career, you sort of get down there and concentrate on your footy and do things away from rugby league and no one cares about you really."
While his teammates are sure to be on the end of plenty of hugs should the Storm prevail tomorrow night, another player who might not be spared some post-game affection is Manly centre and former Melbourne teammate Steve Bell. King and Bell are close, Bell having made it a personal mission to help King find his feet when he moved to Melbourne in 2003.
"He took me under his wing when I first got here, he's a champion bloke," King said.
"I haven't spoken to him for a couple of months now because we're both working pretty hard for something we both want.
"It's just in his nature - I was centre and he was a centre so he looked after me in that regard at training but he and his wife Tracy had me over for dinner probably once a month, and it was just little things like that helped out."
But don't think for a second that King will be taking it easy on his former centre partner come Sunday night.
"More than him being a mate, he's my opponent this weekend."
- AAP
