David King admits it would be a shock to him if St Kilda was to play finals in 2023.
The Saints underwent significant change in the off-season with Ross Lyon returning to the club as head coach, subsequently resulting in the addition of key off-field personnel.
Under Brett Ratten, the Saints won 11 matches and finished 10th in 2022, but will Lyon’s arrival equate to an uptick in results?
Kane Cornes asked King if St Kilda was a tough team to judge head of the new AFL season.
His response was firm, wondering if the club has recruited just to be competitive.
“I don’t think they’re that tough (to judge),” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“This is a classic list built to make finals rather than win premierships, and that’s the biggest error you can make.
“They really haven’t given their coach over the last couple of years a chance. You can look at the drafts of 2019 and 2020, they were band-aid measures at the time, and now they’re going to pay a bit of a price for that.
“I like some of the young players on the list. I think (Mitch) Owens is going to be a very, very good player, (Nasiah) Wanganeen-Milera across half-back will be interesting, makes a couple of mistakes but makes things happen.
“I think having Rob Harvey, Corey Enright, Damian Carroll, Brendon Goddard down there, that’s a wonderful pit crew, with Ross bringing a fair bit of discipline and structure to this group.
“I think this year will be a regression but the development over the next two to three years will give them a chance to be a finals team, but not capped with finishing fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth. A top-four team in three to four years.”
King suggests the 2023 season could determine the futures of a pair of established Saints when pondering the club’s pass mark for the year.
“They may have to look at getting aggressive at the end of the season with (Jack) Billings and (Jade) Gresham in terms of a trade sense if they don’t perform this year,” he added.
“Ross will get the best out of this group, I just don’t think it will be more than eight or nine wins.”
Cornes agreed with that assessment but did admit that finals would not surprise him.
“Football middle ground, eight to nine wins again is probably where St Kilda fit,” he said of the Saints.
“If they did get the new coach Ross Lyon bounce and played finals, it wouldn’t shock me.”
An opinion not shared by King who fears for St Kilda, particularly early in the season while Max King is sidelined.
“That would shock me, absolutely,” he said sternly.
“They’re going to have to do this without Max King for a little while. I think it’s a reset of sorts and a whole new game plan.
“It would shock me, but in saying that, I think they’ll be a better team for going backwards this year over the next two to three (years).”
The Saints will tune up for the 2023 campaign with practice matches Melbourne (February 24) and Essendon (March 3) before opening their season against Fremantle at Marvel Stadium on March 19.