AFL star Jake King reveals the moment his teammates had to stop him from BASHING his coach: ‘I was going to kill him’

Former Richmond star Jake King has recalled how his Tigers teammates had to stop him from attacking then-coach Terry Wallace during the 2009 AFL season.

Morale was at an all-time low at Punt Road, with Wallace losing the support of the playing group.

King – a cult hero among Richmond fans – was on the outside, with Wallace refusing to pick the combative half-forward flank in his senior team despite their woes on the pitch.

“I wanted to fucking kill him,” King said on television Footy & Friends podcast.

King went on to explain that the veteran coach felt midfielder Andrew Raines and defenders Jordan McMahon and Alex Rance were more valuable players than him.

So when the trio were eventually injured or dropped, King assumed he would be in the squad again after excelling for Coburg at VFL level.

He was wrong.

‘I said to him [Wallace] “Well, can I play a game now?” And he says, ‘No,'” King said.

King – a cult hero among Richmond fans – was on the outside at the time, with Wallace refusing to pick the combative half-forward flank in his senior team

Terry Wallace coached Richmond between 2005 and 2009 in a period to quickly forget

“I said, ‘Why?’ and he says, “Mate, I just don’t think you’re good enough to play on this team… and you won’t be playing on it while I’m coaching.”

King happened to be at the club for a boxing session one evening when he came across then Tigers captain Chris Newman.

The skipper revealed that he was asked by the board to encourage Wallace to quit, but King felt the decision should be left to the coach himself.

In the subsequent meeting, King was asked for his feedback – and he boldly told Wallace he was a ‘f****ng s**t coach’ who promised the world but delivered mixed messages to the players.

Remarkably, Wallace thanked King for his honesty, but then leaked the conversation to the media.

Suddenly, King was hounded by reporters and photographers camped outside his home, making him public enemy number one.

“I actually went and grabbed him [Wallace]I wanted to fucking kill him and then [teammates] Chris Newman and Kane Johnson grabbed me and said, ‘Don’t, don’t!'” King said.

‘[Ex-football boss] Craig Cameron then came in – the boys actually grabbed me because I was cooking.”

Richmond moved on from Wallace after he racked up 500 career games as a player and coach – and King played a further 74 AFL games under new boss Damien Hardwick until he retired in 2014.