It is not outrageous to suggest that the football industry underestimates Ben King. Grossly so. It’s an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing.

But on Saturday, as the SUNS beat North Melbourne by 52 points at Barossa Park to claim the club’s first 4-0 start to a season, the 24-year-old full forward lodged an irrefutable statistical retort. He kicked his 200^thAFL goal in his 99^th game.

And, despite having played only four games, one less than most other contenders, King heads the Coleman Medal leaderboard.

He has 17 goals from four games to share top spot with Fremantle’s Josh Treacy, who has 17 goals from five games.

Then follows North’s Nick Larkey and Adelaide’s Darcy Fogarty (16 from five), Adelaide’s Riley Thilthorpe (15 from five), Western Bulldogs’ Sam Darcy and St Kilda’s Jack Higgins (14 from five), and GWS’ Jesse Hogan (14 from three).

King, set to play his 100th games against Richmond at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, is the second player to 200 SUNS goals behind former captain and two-time SUNS Club Champion and now a Richmond Club Champion and two-time premiership player Tom Lynch. And King reached the mark in seven games quicker than Lynch.

Moreover, in proof of what has been a phenomenal effort by the one-time Haileybury College academic standout and Sandringham Dragons graduate, among 73 players who have reached the 200-goal milestone since the SUNS joined the AFL in 2011, only six have done so quicker.

And that despite the fact that King has had to virtually start his career twice after missing the entire 2022 season following a knee reconstruction.

Quickest to the 200-goal milestone in the SUNS era has been four-time All-Australian Jeremy Cameron, club champion at GWS and Geelong and the 2019 Coleman Medallist who has topped his club goal-kicking 11 times. He was 78 games at GWS before switching to the Cats.

Two players reached 200 goals in their 85^th game – West Coast’s Mark LeCras, 2010 club champion and All-Australian who is fourth on the Eagles’ all-time goal-kicking list,  and Adelaide’s Taylor Walker, five-year captain and the club’s all-time leading goal-kicker.

Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt, three-time Richmond Coleman Medallist, All-Australian and premiership player who is third in Tiger goal-kicking all-time and 14^th in AFL history, was 91 games, and Ben Brown, a 175-gamer at North Melbourne and Melbourne who was a 202 premiership player at Melbourne, was 92 games to 200 goals.

Fifth on this list is Jack Gunston, Hawthorn’s four-time premiership player, 2018 All-Australian and 2020 club champion, who was 95 games, while, like King, North Melbourne’s Nick Larkey, a 2023 All-Australian, was 99 games to 200 goals.

Carlton pair Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow, both winners of the Coleman Medal, were both 102 games to 200 goals with Adelaide’s Josh Jenkins.

Others inside 110 games were Hawthorn 300-gamer and three-time premiership winner Luke Breust (104), GWS’ 2024 Coleman Medallist and All-Australian Jesse Hogan (106), West Coast’s Josh Kennedy (109) and Gold Coaster turned SUNS board member Kurt Tippett, who was 109 games at Adelaide and Sydney.

King’s AFL career has been split almost down the middle by his knee injury. He was 53 games for 89 goals pre-knee, and is now 46 games for 113 goals post-knee.

In 10 game blocks, his goal output has gone 10-18-13-26-18-20-17-26-26 and now 27 from nine games.

Drafted with Pick #6 in the 2018 National Draft, King heads the class of 2018 goal list from twin brother Max, who was pick #4 in the same draft. Max, yet to play this season due to injury, has 159 goals from 83 games.

But the statistic that will mean more to a player who lost his first 15 AFL games will be his win tally in the same periods – 0-3-2-3-3-4-5-5-5 and now 6 from nine games. And more particularly their 4-0 start this year.

Similarly, their 3-0 interstate record, which is an excellent start to a 2025 campaign to shed the ‘easybeats on the road’ tag they’ve carried for 14 years.

King is in contention to become the SUNS’ 25^th 100-gamer on Saturday night, having shared his Round 9, 2019 debut with Queenslander Oskar Baker at Melbourne, Darcy Fort at Geelong, Mitch Hinge at Brisbane, Robbie Young at St.Kilda and Joel Garner at Port.

Curiously, he’s the only member of this sextet still wearing the same colors. Baker (42 games) is now at the Bulldogs, Fort (38 games) is now at Brisbane, Hinge (70 games) is now at Adelaide, and Young (3 games) and Garner (4 games) didn’t get beyond the end of the season.

King’s 2022 knee problems aside, he’s been remarkably durable. Exclude his 22-game reconstruction and he’s missed only three games – the equal of captain Noah Anderson.

And despite having an entire year off King will be the 19^th-youngest 100-gamer for the SUNS – older only than Matt Shaw, Charlie Ballard, Lynch, Lukosius, Touk Miller and Anderson.

King will be the 16^th 100-gamer from a draft class that looks like proving to be one of the best.

St.Kilda’s Callum Wilkie, who has played 137 games without a miss since his debut in Round 1 2019, heads the games list from the Class of 2018 from Port captain and pick #4 Connor Rozee (134), Sydney pick #10 Nick Blakey (133) and Geelong rookie pick #11 Tom Atkins (132).

Then follows Carlton pick #1 Sam Walsh (124), Port pick #12 Zak Butters and Sydney pick #25 James Rowbottom (121), Gold Coast pick #2 turned Port utility Jack Lukosius (118) and new Sun John Noble, who has played 116 games since being a mid-season rookie draft signing by Collingwood.

Lachie Schulz, pick #57 to Fremantle and now at Collingwood, is 10^th with 114 games, from Collingwood #13 Isaac Quaynor (113), Bulldogs pick #7 turned Geelong newcomer Bailey Smith and Geelong #15 turned Fremantle defender Jordan Clark (107), SUNS Academy graduate and North pick #49 Bailey Scott (105) and Melbourne pick #27 Tom Sparrow, who posted his 100^th game in Gather Round.

Twin brother Max’s 159 goals is second behind Ben’s 201 on the Class of 2018 goal-kicking list.

Also beyond 100 goals are Schulz (130), 88-game Gold Coast pick #3 turned Adelaide utility Izak Rankine (126), Rozee (117) and ex-GWS pick #24 turned Collingwood Norm Smith Medallist Bobby Hill, who has 93 games for 105 goals.

King, now with 201 goals and 53 goals behind Lynch on the SUNS’ all-time goal-kicking list, is well clear of Alex Sexton (164), Gary Ablett and Brandon Matera (124), Sam Day (117), Ben Ainsworth (115) and David Swallow (109).

His five-goal bag against North on Saturday, second-best to his six goals against West Coast in Perth in Round 1 this year, came as the unbeaten SUNS added four new lines to the record books.

• Fourteen different goalkickers was a club record, surpassing the 13 of their Round 12 2022 game against North Melbourne in Darwin, when they won by 62 points.
  
  
• The score of 21.15 (141) was fourth-biggest in club history, behind 26.8 (164) against Geelong in Darwin last year, 21.22 (148) against GWS in Canberra in 2013, and 22.14 (146) against GWS at People First Stadium in 2013.
  
  
• Thirty-six scoring shots was second only behind 43 in the same 2013 Canberra game against GWS.
  
  
• And 21 goals was equal fourth all-time, behind the Darwin win over Geelong last year and the People First Stadium win over GWS, and equal with the Canberra win over GWS in 2013.

Individually, Matt Rowell was the statistical standout with 26 possessions (15 contested), 11 clearances (8 centre clearances), seven tackles and 14 score involvements.

Rowell is now averaging 5.5 centre clearances a game this year – up from 2.9 last year, 2.7 in 2023 and 2.5 in 2022 – and despite having played only four games his 41 score involvements for 2025 ranks equal 4^th in the League with St.Kilda’s Jack Macrae, behind only GWS’ Toby Greene (50) and Bulldogs Sam Darcy(47) and Ed Richards (43). They have all played five games.

Similarly, his 38 clearances in four games is equal fourth with the Dogs’ Tom Liberatore, behind only Fremantle’s Caleb Serong (47), Macrae (45) and Hawthorn’s Jai Newcombe (39). And each of them have played five games too.

Rowell’s 22 centre clearances is equal second with Newcombe behind only Serong (24).

Joel Jeffrey continued his fine start to the season with 20 possessions, six score involvements and a career-high 13 marks in defence, Ben Long supplemented 20 possessions with three goals, three goal assists, and Noah Anderson (12) and Touk Miller (11) also topped double-figures in score involvements.