Tony King is in the 60 Secs hot seat this week.
Click here to see the SEQAFL 60 Secs video with Tony King.
Springwood’s Tony King has coached for the last 14 years, since starting at Morningside Reserves in 1999.
King was so nervous before his first game that he could not eat and half way through the opening quarter, he had to send out for a pie to avoid missing the rest of the game.
His nerves have settled since that first game at the Panthers, and he has gone on to coach the Morningside u/162, u-18s and the Springwood u-10s to 14s.
He was a Pumas assistant coach in 2005, 2010 and 2012 – before being installed as the head coach in Round nine of last year.
Heavily involved in the development of juniors at both the clubs where he’s coached, King gets a lot of satisfaction out of seeing boys develop into footballers.
“Seeing Tom Bell from Morningside play his first game for Carlton and a large portion of the Springwood Under-10 team still playing seniors at the club [are two of my coaching highlights],” he said.
While he remembers to eat before games now, that does not mean King has not had any strange moments through his coaching career.
King recalls one particular half-time address that did not quite go to plan.
“I had to withdraw from my half time speech due to a coughing stint and my runner took over,” he said.
King is all about preparation in his coaching, stressing the importance of implementing strong training habits and preparing to perfection each week.
After more than a decade of coaching, King believes that the best part of footy is the atmosphere of the game.
“It’s a great energy to be around football people and the team environment.”
His appreciation of a strong team environment might explain why he admires Adam Goodes and Paul Roos, from the Sydney Swans, as his favourite AFL player and coach despite being a Bulldogs fan.
King would love to see his beloved Bulldogs play in every state and also travel to Lords to see an Ashes Test sometime in his life.
