MATT King likes to recall the time he lied to Ben Harper. How he was rattled with nerves as he walked through the backstage area. He says he was shaking like crazy when he met the chilled-out musician.

"It was deadset like I was 10 years old again," King says. "Like I was meeting Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny."

Knowing Harper was a keen surfer, King, desperate for some common ground, tried to strike up a conversation about board riding. "I lied to him," he admitted. "… I said, 'I'm from Byron Bay and I surf up there'." Harper was impressed. "I can talk the talk, but I just can't walk the walk," King says.

Football has not just given King the opportunity to rub shoulders with the rich and famous, it has completely turned his life around. He's humbled by it all. A one-time garbo who finally made it as a footy player at 23, King is thankful for every opportunity the game has given him.

"I don't take it for granted," he says. "Footy has been the best thing in my life so far. It's given me so much. I definitely realise how lucky I am … I think I've struck a good balance in my life - just from where I've come from, I really do know how lucky I am."

That's the reason King was so filthy after Origin I. Bitterly disappointed with his own performance, the winger is still hurting two weeks on. "It was just so disappointing," he says.

King has the chance to atone tomorrow night, but critics say he was lucky to retain his place after NSW's 25-18 loss in Brisbane and the whispers are that another poor showing will severely jeopardise his Origin future.

The pressure is well and truly on, yet the past has shown that King has always found strength in adversity.

At one point in 2002, he was out of the game, working in a smoky Melbourne pub and riding a bike with rimless wheels. "I went through a fair bit of shit," he says. "Which I don't mind admitting was a lot of my fault. I left home and just thought it was just going to happen for me. I didn't train hard. I had way too good of a time at different stages. It wasn't until I got a little bit older, at 22, that I realised that footy had to come first … so when footy did come along, I realised I had it pretty good. You don't get anything for free and you have to work for it."

Just as the 26-year-old has taken an unconventional path to success, he is also different to those who surround him on the field. Among a bunch of footballers who mostly desire hot cars and designer duds, King prefers his scooter and shopping at St Vinnies. "You never know what you'll find in op shops," he says. "Two bucks and you've got a T-shirt."

Every now and then, King will walk the 300 metres from his house to the local church in Richmond, just to talk to the "big fella". "I light a few candles and ask God to look after my family and the people I love and help out with my footy," he says. "And when things do go good, I go up and say thank you. It's just a part of my life."

King, a man with a keen sense of the bigger picture, has two other goals beyond the immediate wish for Origin redemption. He wants to learn to play the harmonica and - of course - how to surf.

"They're my next two things to do," he says. "Obviously, they're not important things, but I'd really like to be able to surf and play the harmonica."

They will also save him from fibbing to Ben Harper again.