St Kilda forward Max King has been subject to some damning criticism, after being made to “look like a child” by Port Adelaide’s defence yesterday at Marvel Stadium.
On the back of the Saints’ eighth loss in 11 games, their two-point loss to the Power yesterday on their home turf was ugly viewing, and now leaves them back in the ladder’s bottom four sides.
And in a forward line that has under-delivered in 2024 – with the exception of Jack Higgins – King’s recent output has rightly or wrongly been thrown in the spotlight.
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Lyon discusses St Kilda’s biggest issues | 08:24
King, who went goalless for the third time this year, finished the match yesterday with two behinds from his 10 disposals and three marks.
Undoubtedly a player with potential and promise that many can only dream of, the 202cm tall has become an even more important player in their structure given his side’s lack of form.
The 23-year-old has kicked 19 goals so far this season, and while regularly on the end of poor kicking from his teammates throughout the year, has been subject to questions on his form by pundits.
King looked to have found some form in the last month with 10 goals in his last four games, however unfortunately for Saints fans on Sunday afternoon, was outplayed by Power defenders Aliir Aliir and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher – with the pair registering eight intercept marks between them.
A two-time leading goalkicker for the club in just four seasons prior at the top level, King has always been a player with very high expectations set of him both internally and externally; hardly easy to live up to as a young key forward.
And despite his tough day out against an honourable Port Adelaide defence, coach Ross Lyon went into bat for his main man in the attacking half, with delivery into King’s attacking 50 hardly at its best.
“When we’re not getting a lot of clean ball to him, it can be hard … I really admired his mental (toughness) … he took a step forward,” Lyon said in his post-match press conference.
Two-time North Melbourne premiership player David King wasn’t as forgiving on King’s lack of form however, and shared an animated debate with St Kilda great Leigh Montagna on Fox Footy’s First Crack.
Read the full transcript from Sunday night’s discussion below:
DavidKing:I tell you what, he (Ken Hinkley) would be rapt with his key defenders. In that last quarter, Aliir Allir and Zerk-Thatcher were just enormous. Whenever the ball went in, it didn’t matter really who the opponent was, they just got there – they just found a way. It’s probably the best game I’ve seen Aliir play for a while, just really clear with his movement, his positioning was really good.
They made Max King look like a child at times, they really did – some of the efforts were sub-AFL standard, and there’s a deeper conversation to be had there. But let’s credit these two right now; and I know there was only 13 inside 50’s for the final term, but there (were) some absolute beauties they had to win, and they did. I thought they were outstanding in crunch moments; one or two errors, and it would’ve been disaster, so well done.
Anthony Hudson: And they didn’t score a goal in the last quarter, but they were able to hang on.
Leigh Montagna: They’re not playing anywhere near their best footy, they are struggling for form, but it was almost (as if) they just found a way to win. I think some of the body language from some of the hugs post-game, the players would have said to ‘Kenny’ with either their words or their body language or their behaviour: ‘Hey Kenny, we want you – we’re in this with you, we want you’. And I reckon that’s what’s part of the emotion, is I reckon that’s a tight group internally; they know all the noise is coming, and I reckon they were able to stand up for Ken today.
DK:Can I just say one thing on St Kilda?
AH: Yeah.
DK:If I’m Ross Lyon, I’m starting to look at life without Max King; I’m wondering whether at the end of the year, you can say: ‘It’s not working for either party, let’s just cut and run’, and it’s brutal to say that now, and they’ll never agree to this or sign off on this – but gee whiz, I feel like we talk about him every week. I feel like it’s just a tested relationship now; he looked broken – it wasn’t until they moved him out of the forward line late (that he looked more threatening).
AH: Well, he ended up having a run in the ruck, which Ross Lyon came in and said ‘we’re going to do that more’, so he was ready (and) armed for that question.
DK:Would you look at that sort of option, or is that too drastic?
LM: Moving him on? No, they’ve got to stick with him, they’ve just got to find a way to get the best out of him – they’ve tried to avoid getting him going in the ruck, they want to protect him.
DK:We’ve spoken about this for how long though?
LM: Well, it’s now five, six years. I agree, he’s always shown a little bit and not delivered, I understand.
AH: He has got a few goals (of) late, he’s started to get a couple.
LM: You can’t get rid of a player like that.
DK: Like what though?
LM: That’s got huge upside, that’s got match-winning ability – he’s got it, they just need to find a way to get it out of him.
DK:I’m starting to think we know what he’s going to be. We’re not 30 games in, we’ve gone past that. I don’t know, I think there’s a big discussion to be had at the end of the year; not today, but at the end of the season.
AH: I’m sure that discussion will take place, certainly for those of us looking from the outside, I wonder what the reaction on the internal side at St Kilda will be.