St Kilda spearhead Max King has been given time away from the club to “gather his emotions” in the wake of his season-ending knee injury, with coach Ross Lyon adamant the key forward remains “critical” to the club’s success in 2025.
Lyon revealed the full extent of King’s injury – he “tore right through” the PCL in his knee last Sunday against Port Adelaide – and lauded the “really brave effort” of the 24-year-old to play on under duress.
The injury comes at a time when King’s place at the Saints has been questioned, having kicked just 17 goals in 12 games in 2024, his fifth season in the AFL.
While Lyon said criticism of King’s output before his injury had been “fair enough”, he said the club wouldn’t waver from its commitment to the star forward, who goalkicking great Matthew Lloyd, said could be the “best forward in the game” at some point in his career.
That career will be at St Kilda, where he is contracted until 2026, if Lyon has anything to do with it, with officials having begun talks on an extension before King’s latest injury setback.
“He’s critical to our plans. We’ve invested a lot in him, he’s invested a lot in us,” Lyon said on Friday.
“He’s fully committed and we are fully committed to him. I’m really bullish on long term what he will deliver, as long as well get all the moving parts in place.
“He’ll have his day in the sun, we just need to offer him more supply and quality and he needs a really good run at it.
“Two shoulder reconstructions and this, it’s been really difficult 18 months for him since I have been here. I have never seen him whinge or complain. He’s very determined and we’ve got his back.”
Lyon said he saw former Swans champ Adam Goodes recover from a similar injury to win the Brownlow Medal after taking time to recover, and that would be King’s campaign now after adjusting to having his season ended early again.
“He’ll get a really good run at it, a really good run,” Lyon said.
“We’ve already planned his off-season. He’ll have a break now, it’s really important that mentally he feels good.
“What we love is he’s doing stuff off-field. He’s doing a uni course, he’s quite driven, he has a purpose outside of football,
“Max is working hard on building something good. We think that links to on-field performance. He has all that in hand.
“We’ll let him gather himself, then mentally prepare, work through his emotions, then recommit to preparing really well.”
With his side sitting 15th on the ladder with just five wins ahead of a clash with premiership favourites Sydney, Lyon recognised the challenge his players faced for the rest of the season that would now be played without King.
But he said there would be no putting the cue in the rack at Moorabbin.
“I don’t think it’s about one player. We’re up for the challenge, we know it’s a challenge, that’s the reality,” he said.
“We’ll pick our best team to win. We’ve always done that.
“We’re building, we’re really excited, there’s a lot to play for in the next seven weeks.”