Canterbury's longest-serving forward has conceded the club were rolled in the middle by Manly a fortnight ago, but insists things will change for the finals.
Manly have made no secret of their plans to take on Canterbury's middle again in Sunday's elimination final, just two weeks after a 34-22 win at Accor Stadium.
Known for sporting a smaller but more mobile pack, Bulldogs players have at times grown frustrated by criticism of their forwards this year.
But they are willing to concede they were well beaten by the Sea Eagles in round 26, as Taniela Paseka, Matt Lodge and Nathan Brown ran roughshod.
"You roll the eyes when (the criticism of the pack) is a default thing. But I think there are definitely times it's fair," King told AAP.
"I remember playing the Roosters at Gosford as well and (we were beaten in the middle there).
"It's a pride thing. To walk off and think we lost today because their pack is better than our pack (hurts).
"Particularly felt that after the Manly game, they came out really well and strong."
King is one of the few players to survive Canterbury's transformation in recent years.
He came to the club at the start of 2022 from Melbourne, and is the sole forward left at Belmore that played under former coach Trent Barrett.
The 27-year-old has seen Cameron Ciraldo implement a similar version to Penrith's defensive system, slightly altered to suit the smaller size of the Bulldogs pack.
And he believes he has seen enough to know the club's defence will return for the finals, after they were beaten in the middle by North Queensland on Saturday and conceded 78 points in the past two weeks.
"You get confidence through playing alongside each other while still getting results (with our size)," King said.
"We have every reason to believe in each other.
"Most of the year it has been great for us. There are games where we haven't been on and we feel dominated.
"But it's just a matter of, they know who we are. We're going to look to exploit that. And we know who we are and we're going to look to play to our strengths."
King's comments came as Manly prop Paseka made clear the Sea Eagles planned on repeating the same middle dominance on Sunday.
"We realised (before round 26) they had a small pack and we have a big pack. So it was like, it makes sense just to go through them," Paseka said.
"It makes complete sense (to do it again), and it is as simple as that.
"But I know this week they will try and change things, and they know we're coming through the middle."
