Ben King has a secret weapon when studying opposition defenders.
His twin brother Max.
About to enter his third season, Gold Coast's King is leaving no stone unturned as he looks to build on an exciting first 31 games at senior level.
Not only has the 20-year-old added five kilograms of muscle to help fill out his 202cm frame, but the power forward has continued to study the best opponents in the game.
"Most key defenders in the league I've matched up on and prepared for and watched vision on, so when it comes around this year I'm more confident I know the player they are," King told AFL.com.au.
"Having Max playing footy as well is massive for me in that when he plays on a bloke he'll tell me what he was like.
"I watch Max's vision against someone and see how Max exposed him, and how he got hold of Max, and that helps me enormously as well.
"It's been handy."
King was the Suns' leading goalkicker last season, with 25 from 17 games, taking his tally to 42 for his young career.
The club has taken a measured approach with the Victorian's development, adding little bits of weight each year rather than piling on as much as possible in one go.
King expects to hit his ideal playing weight in another four or five years.
"I do feel a lot stronger," he said.
"As the deepest target most of the time, when the kick's on my head I have to hold my ground in the contest and be really physical.
"I feel like the games where my opponent has dominated me is often when they're ragging me around a bit and they're a lot stronger than me. Hopefully that'll even it up a bit.
"I feel like I've taken a big step this year."
Coach Stuart Dew said although King's output as one of two key targets – with Sam Day – was important, it wouldn't define the Suns.
"We don't want to be a footy club that is relying on one player, particularly a key forward," Dew said.
"Having seen that over time, it can be detrimental to wanting to go deep into finals if you're really predictable with where you go.
"We want Ben to be a really, really important part of our forward line.
"One thing Ben is good at is bringing others into the game, so if he does get double teamed it's rare that he's out-marked and that brings the smaller player into it.
"I think he's going to have a real impact on the team and how that looks individually
might depend on any given day, but on the whole, he's going to influence that forward line and affect how those forward chains eventuate."
King says he's "lucky" to be in a team with such exciting young players.
"I think I'm even more excited than the public.
"I get to train every day with these blokes. Seeing how far Noah (Anderson) and others have come so far, it's incredible, they're going to be great players."
