DARREN Crocker described it as one of the toughest conversations in over 30 years in the game.

Now for the first time, North Melbourne midfielder Mia King has spoken about falling agonisingly short in her quest for a recall to last year's Grand Final team.

The tough midfielder tore the posterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in round nine, missing the next six weeks, but was declared fit on the injury list ahead of the decider.

King had done all the extras, including using a hyperbaric chamber and even taking supplements to support ligaments and tendons.

She has never trained as hard as she did across that week, crashing contests and sprinting through every drill, doing everything she could to convince the coaches to take a risk and include her off the back of no footy for a month and a half.

But it was to no avail.

The Roos went in unchanged, won back-to-back flags, and King watched on from the sidelines.

"Looking back, it was a hard time. It was probably one of the hardest things I've had to go through in my football career,” King told AFL.com.au.

"Until you've had an injury, you don't know how debilitating and how cruel it can be. Not that I'm grateful for it, but I think I've learned so much and I've grown so much through that period.

"It was more the anticipation and the build-up. I had no idea which way it was going to fold. Through the nature of the timing of it, I think (if) it was a week earlier or two weeks earlier, I might have made it back in. But I guess it's what comes with being in an amazing team, and we had such good form everyone was in, we had so much success. So, I completely understood why [coach Crocker] made the decision that he did.

"As soon as I answered the phone call, I could feel my heart racing, and I was like what's it gong to be? I think I knew as soon as I picked up – the tone of his voice, I know 'Crock', and I just knew it wasn't good news. It did hit me, and I was quite emotional. But I gave myself that night and that day.

"If anything, it was a little bit of relief, because I think I was in this unknown for so long – will I get up, when will I get up? I think I was just mentally exhausted by the end. So fatigued, so I was just ready for the decision to be made and I could move on."

In terms of teammate support during the rehab period, there was fellow Tasmanian Nicole Bresnehan, who had ruptured her ACL back in round five.

Come the tortured few days between finding out she'd missed selection on the Thursday, to the Grand Final on Saturday night, it was Tessa Boyd, who'd played a fair whack of the season but was omitted herself the week prior to make way for eventual Best on Ground winner Eilish Sheerin.

"I had a bit of a flare-up with the knee early on, I think I pushed it too early, too soon, it just wasn't quite ready. It aggravated things and it wasn't looking good. So I was happy that I was able to build the momentum I did towards the end, and I really, really did push. I was proud of my body holding up," King said.

"I was able to lean on people like Nicole Bresnehan. ACLs are year-long, so she's had such a long rehab and recovery. Tessa Boyd, she was really unlucky to miss out as well.

"I think that's what happens with having a good team, and it's probably going to be a more prevalent issue this year, with everyone coming back with PBs and even fitter and stronger somehow. I'll be able to help those people this year who aren't getting picked or if I find myself in a similar position with injuries. Having been through adversity, I'm more equipped to deal with things that come up."

The off-season did her good, allowing King some extra time to let her body and mind heal after such a frantic race to the end of the year.

There was a trip to Vietnam, another to the southwest coast of Western Australia, and running some footy clinics in Alice Springs.

"I got a big PB on the time trial. [Missing out] has been chipping away. I've got this inner hunger to come back bigger and stronger. To listen to the body as well when you're having little things and to not push through, and just to really appreciate life outside football as well," King said.

"During that period, it felt so consuming with football and things like that. It was intense. To have things outside, to lean on my family and friends and have things that fill up my cup as well, it's nice to differentiate between 'football Mia' and 'outside of football Mia', and what makes her a good person."