MAX KING hopes to make those who dished out the childhood taunts eat their words by inspiring England to World Cup glory.
The Canterbury Bulldogs prop may now sound as Aussie as they come but when he moved there as a seven-year-old, he was Huddersfield through and through.
And kids being kids, he was reminded of that at every opportunity at the new school he started.
Fast forward 22 years and he is part of Brian McDermott’s squad – four years after he hoped to represent the nation of his birth – looking for success.
But the memories of moving from West Yorkshire, where mum Caroline hails from and where she met dad David as he played for Huddersfield, remain vivid.
King said: “I can still remember being there as a seven-year-old. I was in year three at school when I left, but when I came to Australia, I got bounced back to year two.
“When I first moved, I had a really thick accent and the area was classed as rural – there weren’t many English people, so everyone used to take the p***!
“In my first week I was just trying to copy all the Aussie slang, the accent and this and the other, I just tried to get rid of it as quickly as I could because it was a bit of a teasing point.
“I did have a thick accent, but it didn’t take me too long to lose it, but if you speak to my mother, it’s still as thick as the day she left, but it’s done me good.
“Being with mum, I guess I’ve got experience on my belt with the accent and some of the Yorkshire slang.
“I remember going to the Leeds Rhinos games. My grandfather was a Leeds Rhinos tragic and my wife reminds me of when we first started dating.
“She came over to my house and I had this big sticky note that was across from my bed. It was a goal to make the World Cup for the England side in 2022.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and being on the Australian side, your loyalty, dedication towards England probably gets questioned.
“So this is a cool moment for me and a special moment for my family as well – I love representing them and there are no divided loyalties.”
Now King, 29, has made it to the England squad, he hopes to provide the power that helps McDermott’ men over group opponents Tonga, France and Papua New Guinea.
But the devout Christian has a higher power behind him in Perth as he added: “I like to think that I take my faith into everything.
“Even talking about the goal that I had for 2022, every time I’d look at it, I was praying for it.
“It was there as a motivation for me to try and train harder, but it was a reminder for me to be like steadfast in my prayer towards it.
“That’s the cool thing and the cool journey that I’ve been on. I feel like my relationship with God has been there, even through the disappointments.
“Now four years later, here I am and I get to live out this experience.
“My faith has really held me and grounded me and the first thing I packed was my Bible!”
