Can Max King take the next step in 2024?
That was the question on Nathan Buckley’s mind as the St Kilda key forward gears up for his fifth AFL campaign.
While King has shown signs of his immense potential across his four years so far, he’s yet to make an All-Australian team and truly announce himself as one of the competition’s truly elite forwards.
One reason why that didn’t happen in 2023 was that he suffered shoulder injuries twice during the campaign, restricting him to just 11 games.
While he only just mustered double digits in terms of games, King still kicked 28 goals and ranked sixth for goals per game across the competition.
Buckley thinks that a fully-fit King could be the key for St Kilda in 2024 with much of their hopes resting on the 23-year-old’s shoulders.
“Max King only played 11 games last year for 28 goals,” Buckley told SEN Breakfast.
“Technically he only played 10 because he was injured really early in one and that looked like that was a season-ender.
“I thought he showed some ticker to come back, and I suppose from without knowing the kid at all, the question is you need the courage to play as a tall forward, you need to cop those hits and then get back up.
“We've seen the guys that have played those roles that have done it consistently. They have to become robust, resilient, physical specimens and Max King has taken a while to develop into that.
“Can he take that next step this year? In effect, he played 10 games for 28 goals which is almost an average of three. His career to date before that was 60 games for 120 goals.
“So, he stepped it up even with reduced opportunities. He became so important last year.
“If Max King has a full year this year, then where can the Saints go? They were able to scrape a finals spot last year out of the issues that they had through the second half of the year in particular.
“I think he'll be a watch. What do you see Max King doing in 2024?”
Kane Cornes is adamant that King must truly breakout this campaign and deliver on the huge potential he’s shown.
Cornes thinks that the Saints might need 60-plus goals out of their star man if they’re to become a deep finals threat with his best return previously 52 majors in 2022.
“He needs to have that one breakout year,” Cornes said.
“He’s about nearing that stage. He’s a completely different player to Tom Hawkins but go back through Tom Hawkins’ career and look at what he did in like his fifth season.
“It was bang, ‘I'm an All-Australian, I'm here, I'm a star of the competition for the next five or six years’.
“Some come on quicker, like Nick Riewoldt comes on straight away and bang, is a star, but a lot of them take a fair time.
“This is a huge year for Max King. I'm glad you brought it up.
“We need 60 goals out of him, we need 60 or 65 goals.”
Buckley can easily see King reaching Cornes’ marker and could see him winning the Coleman Medal if he captures his best footy.
“If he goes on his average of nearly three a game (from 2023) … he’s up around 70 goals,” Buckley said.
“There were only nine players that kicked over 50 last year, there were only 18 that kicked over 40.
“So, does he become an elite forward if he's in the top 10 goals scorers in the competition?
“At his best, he could easily do that (win the Coleman Medal).”
St Kilda begin their campaign with a Round 1 clash against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday, March 16.
