‘Irresponsible’ gamble backfires as crushing Saints blow confirmed
St Kilda has come under heavy fire for playing star forward Max King in Sunday’s win over North Melbourne, given he was coming off no VFL match fitness, hadn’t played at AFL level in 757 days, and was unable to finish the game due to injury.
The club has been labelled “irresponsible” and coach Ross Lyon got into a fierce back-and-forth with a journalist in his post-match press conference in the aftermath, before scans on Monday confirmed a hamstring strain for King that will sideline him for the remainder of the 2026 season in a crushing setback.
St Kilda’s Max King takes on North Melbourne’s Cam Zurhaar. AFL Photos via Getty Images
“It’s an incredibly disappointing outcome for Max, who has done everything possible throughout his rehabilitation to put himself in the best position to return,” general manager of football Lenny Hayes said on Monday.
“He’s an incredibly important part of our football club. We’ll continue to wrap our arms around him and provide all the support he needs.
“Our focus now turns to ensuring Max undertakes a full pre-season to allow him to get back and play consistent senior football in 2027.”
King has had a brutal run with knee issues and hadn’t played since June 2024 prior to Sunday’s comeback. His return was delayed again earlier in the year, after he suffered a hamstring injury attempting to get through a VFL game.
This time around, the Saints opted to do away with the VFL lead-in, throwing the 26-year-old straight into the AFL line-up on restricted minutes.
He came onto the ground late in the first quarter to a huge ovation from St Kilda fans, but ultimately had just two disposals and one shot at goal in the first half, before missing the remainder of the match with a tight hamstring.
Speaking after the 31-point win over the Roos, Lyon confirmed King would go for scans on Monday, but backed the club’s call to throw him into the deep end.
“I don’t even know what the outcome is, so how can it be an error before there’s an outcome,” Lyon said after multiple questions about the key forward.
“But we stand by our decision to play (him). We have high-performance experts … we have conditioning, we’re really quite confident.
“Of course we stand by it, hindsight’s 20-20, isn’t it? You can’t be timid souls sitting in the sidelines.
“We’re in the arena making decisions. We’ve done it before, we did it in 2023 and played him.”
Lyon then defended questioning about King’s mental state, given the constant injury recurrences.
“It’s about resilience and coming again,” he said.
“He’s run down an AFL race, feels good, had a start, get a feel for how hard it is, and rehab a potential soft tissue injury.”
Journalist Marc McGowan from The Age continued the questioning, asking for further details, leading to Lyon snapping back “I’ve told you four times. What haven’t I told you? How many times have I answered that question?”
Ross Lyon backs the club’s call to play Max King. Nine
The pair went at it again, with the Saints coach adding: “I don’t understand why you’re raising your voice and why I’m getting pushed back?”
“I feel like I’ve answered directly, with no shying away from the question. I don’t know how I’m becoming the bad guy,” Lyon said.
However, the scrutiny surrounding the decision to play King hasn’t stopped there, with Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes labelling the gamble “reckless, desperate and irresponsible”.
“It was a ridiculous decision, absolutely ridiculous,” Cornes told SEN on Monday morning.
“Anyone with a brain could see that this was not going to work out well for them. There is a difference between training and playing intensity, there just is.
“For Ross not to understand that is ridiculous to me. In that media conference he speaks about high-speed running and uses all sorts of acronyms to try and confuse everyone.
Max King during his comeback game. Getty Images
“I don’t care what you say you’ve done at training, how much running you’ve done at high intensity - anyone who has played football understands the difference in intensity between training and playing. You cannot replicate match day intensity at training.
“He couldn’t get through a game and a half at VFL level at that intensity. How was he ever going to get through a full game?
“I think it was reckless, desperate and irresponsible to do that to a player who has just not shown that he’s got the resilience physically to get through a game of footy.”
King is signed with the club until the end of 2032 on a lucrative deal, adding to the frustrations of all involved as the Saints try to make a late finals push.
