Matthew Lloyd has defended luckless St Kilda key forward Max King, after a poor showing in his 2024 campaign.
It comes after the club confirmed King’s season is over, having suffered a posterior cruciate ligament injury against Port Adelaide in round 16.
The 23-year-old was injured before half time but remained on the field to play out the two-point loss to the Power.
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It’s a crucial blow to the Saints, as they sit in 15th with a 5-10 record after 16 rounds.
King kicked just 17 goals during his shortened 2024 campaign, with questions being raised around his form and ability to shake off key defenders.
Lloyd, who coached King when he was a junior, leapt to his defence.
“I still have the belief that he can be the best forward in the game, at some part of his career,” he said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Wednesday night.
“A lot at home might laugh and go, ‘you’re kidding aren’t you? Look at the way he’s been playing’.”
The Essendon great sees the injury as a chance for King to reset and return next season even better than before.
“It’s probably not a bad thing, a circuit breaker, that you can be injured and go, ‘OK, I can take a deep breath and set myself for next year’,” Lloyd said.
But King’s biggest hurdle stems from within, says Lloyd, who believes he must first overcome his mental barriers before his fitness can improve.
“I know that he’s frustrated that he hasn’t shown the footy world what he’s capable of,” he said.
“But I know a competitor. I know a great competitor. That’s now been questioned of him.
“He’s got a mental competitiveness to him, a physical competitiveness.
“He wants that more badly than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
According to St Kilda’s manager of football, David Mission, the strength work has already begun.
“He’s really dived into his strength work. This will give us an opportunity to really double down on his leg strength,” Mission said on Wednesday.
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Eddie McGuire backed the comments.
“He’s got eight months on full pay to come out and terrorise the competition,” McGuire said.