King plans summer reign

Wigan v Warrington, Friday 7.30pm, live on Sky Sports 1

Last updated: 15th May 2008

matt king warrington

King: struggled for form

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Australia Test centre Matt King insists his form for Warrington will improve as the summer progresses.

The former Melbourne Storm three-quarter was the most high-profile overseas recruit for Super League XIII and his arrival - along with fellow countrymen Michael Monaghan and Chris Hicks - was expected to turn the Wolves into genuine title contenders.

But Warrington are languishing in mid-table after 13 of the 27 games and King has struggled to impress.

"I haven't been happy with my own form," he admitted. "I had a couple of bad games and then I started to feel the pressure. I lost a little bit of confidence because I was playing to a standard I was embarrassed about.

"I don't think I fully anticipated just how hard the move to England was going to be. I thought it was going to be a very easy transition packing up and moving from Melbourne, where I'd been for the past five years.

"But Australia is a long way away and the sun didn't want to come out for the first couple of months that I was here. Just getting used to another style of football was a bit tougher than I expected.

"But I've moved into a new place, the sun's out and my girlfriend is over here now. Any poor form from here on in has got to sit solely on my shoulders and I'm happy to accept that."

King is arguably the biggest overseas name in the British game behind Wigan stand-off Trent Barrett, against whom he will line up in Friday's derby at the JJB Stadium.

Barrett will cut short his stay for personal reasons when he returns to Sydney in October but King insists he will see out his own contract with the Wolves.

Commitment

"I didn't know about it but apparently there were a few rumours flying around that I had had enough of Warrington and was looking to move back to Australia," he said.

"But I made a commitment to Warrington and I'm not the kind of bloke to walk out on a contract.

"I've also made a lot of good mates here and I know Warrington are going to be successful in the future. That's going to happen sooner rather than later and I want to be a part of it.

"We're three months into the competition and I think everyone has just accepted that I'm here now and they don't expect the world out of myself or Mick Monaghan or Chris Hicks.

"If we do it as a team, then we'll be right. Hopefully the fans can be patient and we can turn it around pretty quickly."