Dubbed Mr Consistent since joining the Melbourne Storm from the Newcastle Knights, Singleton junior Josh King is set to lead the Storm's pack in Sunday's NRL grand final against Penrith.
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King will be the mainstay of the front row starting with Tui Kamikamica in the absence of the suspended Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
Speaking with ABC radio this week, King admitted that becoming a regular in the minor premiers and now lining up in a grand final was hard to believe.
"It's not just making a grand final. Who would have thought three years ago that I would be starting 13 for the Melbourne Storm?," said King, 28.
"Who would have thought I would have played every game in the first year I come here and now I've played 70 odd games for the Melbourne Storm and only missed out on a couple?
"I would have laughed at you if you had said that to me a few years ago.
"Not just to make a grand final, but every week I have to pinch myself that I am able to play at such a great club with such a great bunch of boys.
King said the emotions after winning the preliminary final and realising he was going to play in the grand final was something he had never experienced before.
"It's something I've never felt before. To finish on top at the end of the 80 minutes and to think I'm going to play in a grand final is just unreal.
"It's what dreams are made of. You grow up watching grand finals on TV and I went to a grand final when I was a young fella, the opportunity to play in one is something I could never have imagined."
King said to make the grand final was a massive career highlight, but he wasn't quite ready to look beyond that at this point.
"To even be able to say you got the opportunity to play in a grand final is a massive feat, it's a career highlight in itself," he said.
"There's still a lot of work to go to be able to at the end of the next 80 minutes to be the champions. But that's our goal and that's what we are working towards."
King said the message from those who had been involved in a grand final before was to enjoy the week.
"You want to soak it all up and really just live in the moment and enjoy whatever gets thrown at you during the week," he said.
