ONCE known for her entertaining dance skills on the mark, Collingwood’s Sarah King is known for more than that now.

Although she did not have too many touches in her side’s win over Port Melbourne on the weekend, she was effective in other ways and showed something that does not happen too often in football these days – rucks can kick goals.

Final Stats vs Port Melbourne:

Goals: 2
Disposals: 6 (5 kicks and a handball)
Marks: 2
Tackles: 1
Hitouts: 17
Clearances: 1

FIRST QUARTER

Although King gave away a few free kicks in the opening term, there were many positives to her game in the opening 20 minutes.

She was able to demonstrate in many a ruck contest her ability to stand strong and hold her own in a contest. Now this strength did bring her undone several times in giving away those frees, but she won far more ruck contests and the positives from that far outweighed the negatives.

King rested forward for part of the term, but with the ball up the other end she was unable to have much of an influence on the game.

She kicked her first goal 17 minutes in, with a key that was very close to being touched but ultimately was not.

Remarkably, straight after she kicked that goal she was back in the ruck contesting the next centre bounce.

SECOND QUARTER

King was much quieter in the second term.

She started the term up forward but did not spend too much time there, and with Grace Matser doing much of the ruck work in the quarter, there was not a whole lot for King to do.

The one highlight for King during the term was the good strong mark she took just outside defensive 50 about halfway through the quarter.

THIRD QUARTER  

Collingwood started to really kick into gear in the third term, and King was a huge part in that.

King saw much more of the ball in the third period than she did in the second.

She started the quarter in the ruck, but across the course of the term did not venture forward as much as she had in previous quarters.

King landed a beautiful tackle in the forward line two minutes in, from ground level which is not always easy to nail for a ruck.

She also kicked the second of her goals during the third term. After taking a mark on the goal line which may have otherwise been touched over for a behind, she went back and kicked a pretty simple goal which gave the Pies the lead for the first time all afternoon.

Much like her first goal, she ran straight back to the centre after she kicked the goal to contest the restart.

FOURTH QUARTER

King did not have too much to do in the last quarter, but a few crucial moments did help her side a lot.

She began the quarter in the ruck, and her work in the middle set up Collingwood to be able to get the first inside 50 of the final term.

One blimp on her final quarter performance was that she gave away a free kick for high contact.

Later on in the quarter she was in a two on one marking duel that she ultimately lost, but her work to contest the ball did stop Port being able to progress forward and score even more.