Max King’s long-awaited football comeback is imminent and a St Kilda meeting later this week will give more clarity on when he might return in the AFL.
The St Kilda key forward, who has been hobbled by a succession of injury setbacks, last played in the AFL two years ago. King suffered a hamstring strain in early May during a VFL match.
He has made steady progress and coach Ross Lyon was buoyant on Wednesday about having King back playing again soon.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
Lyon was in a cheeky mood and contradicted himself when asked about King.
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘imminent’, but someone did, so that sort-of lit it up,” Lyon said.
“He has made real ground … I’m going to have a meeting later in the week, probably Friday, with our high-performance team to get an exact feel on it.
“But it’s imminent.”
Lyon added ruckman Tom De Koning is back running as he recovers from his fractured ribs.
Buoyed by an easy win over cellar dwellers Essendon, the Saints will have a much tougher nut to crack at Marvel Stadium on Saturday when they host Port Adelaide.
Lyon said there were many “big-ticket items” to consider when preparing to play the Power, other than stars such as Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis.
He noted Port are a strong front-half team and solid at stoppage, as well as controlling the ball well. Aliir Aliir is a strong intercept-marking defender and ruckman Jordan Sweet is another in good form.
“They really squeeze the time and space around the ground – they only allow about 74 uncontested marks. They’re in pretty good shape,” Lyon said.
St Kilda’s 7-9 record has them 12th on the ladder with a healthy percentage, a game out of 10th and a wildcard berth.
“The ladder doesn’t lie. When you’re under pressure as a coach, boards always goes percentages – if you want to use that indicator – but then ultimately it comes to win-loss, doesn’t it? Lyon said.
Lyon was also asked about young gun Darcy Wilson, who is in solid form during a contract season.
“We have 44 (players), we like to look after fairly. I don’t think everyone’s equal, because everyone would get Communism – he’s be getting 150 (thousand),” Lyon said.
“We’ll work it out and ultimately we have to satisfy him.”
