St Kilda forward’s return cut short by hamstring tightness after 757-day absence
Updated ,first published
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon is adamant tortured St Kilda spearhead Max King was ready to play on Sunday despite his first AFL game in 757 days ending prematurely due to hamstring tightness.
King’s latest setback in a challenging period for the 26-year-old marred the Saints’ 31-point win over fellow wildcard contender North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, including a four-goal-to-one final quarter that transformed a competitive contest into a comfortable victory.
Resident superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was the difference again, kicking three of his four goals after going forward in the third quarter as part of a 46-disposal performance that ripped the match away from the Kangaroos.
Lyon did not speak to King before his post-game media conference, but said that the star forward would undergo scans on Monday to assess any potential damage. The coach backed his medical staff’s decision to give King the green light after he suffered a hamstring strain in a VFL game in May.
“I don’t even know what the outcome is, so how can it be an error before there’s an outcome?” Lyon said.
“But we stand by our decision to play him. We have high-performance experts, we have [training] load, we have conditioning. We’re really quite confident.
“In the four-week [rehabilitation] block, he had 50 per cent more volume of high-speed running, and 500 per cent more very high-speed running, which is above 24 kilometres [an hour]. His biggest sessions were game-load sessions with 20 per cent more.
“So, in the context of that evidence, our conditioners thought [he was ready], and game time was only 12 minutes a quarter – two six-minute stints. It was very considered, very worked out, and I’m happy for it to sit with me and our team because we collaborate.”
King had just one kick – a long set shot from the boundary in the second quarter – and one handball in limited game time, but left the ground for good only 13 minutes into the third term. He went to the rooms soon after and did not reappear before the Saints ruled him out.
King’s hamstring strain in May added to the knee and calf setbacks which stalled a promising career that was stuck on 83 games for more than two years.
Speaking post-match to SEN, St Kilda veteran Brad Hill was hopeful King had avoided another lengthy lay-off.
“Fingers crossed because if it is [serious], it’s so sad,” Hill said. “It’s been a tough journey for him the last couple of years, so I’m hoping nothing bad has happened.”
King started every quarter on the bench and came on after the seven-minute mark each time. North Melbourne defenders Charlie Comben and Aidan Corr took turns playing on him, and rarely afforded him much space.
His most notable impact was a forceful collision with Cam Zurhaar that cost the big Saint a 50-metre penalty after the Kangaroo reeled in an intercept mark.
King’s nightmare period started with a season-ending posterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee in a two-point loss to Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on June 30, 2024.
He signed a six-year contract extension in October that year to tie him to the Saints until 2032, but has endured repeated injury complications since, including three surgeries on his right knee last year after a pre-season setback.
King’s trouble continued with a calf injury in February before the hamstring strain in his second VFL match of the season in May delayed his return further.
He spent part of his latest rehabilitation block on the Gold Coast, enabling him to spend time with his twin Ben, and St Kilda opted to bring him straight into the senior side.
“It’s not ideal, right? But it’s about resilience and coming again,” Lyon said.
“I think ultimately, you go, ‘Geez, I’ve run down the AFL race, I feel good, had a start, got a feel for how hard it is, and [I will] rehab a potential soft tissue’. Who knows what it is? I don’t know.
The Saints also lost Cooper Sharman (managed) and Rowan Marshall (back spasms) as late withdrawals, the latter after completing the warm-up.
Dashers Hill (34 disposals) and Darcy Wilson (28) were other prominent players for St Kilda, while ruckman Tom De Koning (19, seven clearances) shone in his return from broken ribs and a punctured lung.
They led by 16 points at quarter-time – benefiting from a series of wayward North Melbourne set shots – but the Roos hit the front early in the second half via the second of Jack Darling’s three goals.
But thanks to their 41-23 clearance dominance, the 10th-placed Saints hit back to lead by 13 points at the final break before kicking away for an important triumph.
Kangaroos defender Charlie Comben went to hospital after he was coughing up blood from a heavy collision late in the match, but coach Alastair Clarkson said the club’s doctors were optimistic he had avoided a serious issue.
