Injury-cursed St Kilda spearhead Max King’s confidence is rising as he nears a comeback from a 21-month absence from the AFL.
King will complete another full week of training next week before Saints coach Ross Lyon and medicos plot his exact return to action.
The full forward hasn’t played in the AFL since hurting a knee on June 30, 2024.
“He’s making a lot of ground – coming really, really quickly, relative to where he was,” Lyon told reporters in Adelaide on Thursday.
“He’s completing full training this week and next week and then we’ll sit down (and discuss) … but his head space and confidence hasn’t been like this since the initial knee problem that was struggled to be diagnosed and then repaired.”
King underwent surgery in 2024, missed the entirety of last season, then had another knee operation last December. On return to training in January, he suffered a calf injury.
“Talk is cheap, but he’s getting there,” Lyon said.
“We’ll have that discussion next week with our sports science team.
“Because it might be like he’s ready to go, but do we just give him another week of full training or another two weeks, because you want to set him up for success.”
