“It could be”: Hawks target’s possible Suns goodbye

Ben King might have played his last game for Gold Coast.

The 26-year-old is coming out of contract and is yet to pen a new deal with the Suns.

King has been heavily linked to Hawthorn and could well be returning to his native home town of Melbourne this off-season.

After kicking three goals in Thursday night’s 23-point Round 24 win over St Kilda at Marvel Stadium, King admitted it was time to focus on his future.

“Yeah obviously it’s time to to work through that now,” an emotional King told Mitch Cleary on Channel 7.

“To be honest, I’ve been just trying to get through game to game and trying to get some wins on the board and finish off properly.

“Obviously there’s a bit to work through there. I’m sure that’ll happen when it happens.

“But so proud of this group and I’ve absolutely loved playing with these boys.”

Cleary then asked: “Do you go tonight thinking this could be your last game as a Gold Coast Sun?”

King replied: “Um… yeah, it could be. Obviously there’s still a lot to work with.

“But whatever happens over the next couple of months, I love this crew of blokes and it’s been special.”

Cleary, who said King’s teammates were “huddling up around him” before the interview, explained how the key forward could get to the Hawks, with the Suns perhaps keen to accept compensation from the AFL.

“It’s pick No.6 if they decide to accept the compensation,” Cleary said.

“Or they can match it and force a trade. But it might be hard to see Hawthorn stumping up much more than that so it may be in Gold Coast’s best interest to take that pick No.6.”

King was drafted by the Suns with Pick 6 in 2018 and has gone on to kick 315 goals in 143 games.

He has booted 60 goals this season which currently has him placed second on the Coleman Medal chart behind Charlie Curnow. He's been the Gold Coast leading goal kicker in the past six seasons in which he's played.