St Kilda post-season review: Max King to analyse his goal-kicking routine
Max King hasn’t engaged in the commentary around his now infamous 0.5 performance against Brisbane but that hasn’t stopped him trying to fix his goal kicking yips.
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The goalkicking question that has been on everybody’s lips hasn’t entered Max King’s head.
“To be honest, I haven’t thought about it,” King told News Corp.
“I’m pretty focused on Sydney this week and just getting through that game.
“It’s probably something for the off-season to sit down with the club and work out a way forward.”
It’s been a tough week for the Saints and for their great white hope.
Last week’s 0.5 against Brisbane Lions thrusted King’s routine – and St Kilda’s treatment of him – into the spotlight.
“It was more just disappointment that I’ve obviously let the team down a little bit,” King said of his post-match emotions.
“It probably wasn't the only reason we lost, but definitely contributed to not getting over the line.
“The hardest thing for me is the team perspective and also my own expectations.”
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Some of the feedback from passionate supporters was unsavoury. Thankfully, King blocked it out.
“I’m pretty much off social media, so to be honest didn’t see any of it,” he said.
But when King and the Saints analysed where it went wrong a lot of the feedback focussed on above the shoulders.
“I sat down with a few people at the club and went through some of the kicks,” he said.
“I feel like there’s a bit of a mental aspect to it as well, but it’s just going back to my routine and nailing every kick and having confidence in the work I’ve done and the routine.”
As the yips snowballed, was that last kick always lingering in his head?
“That’s something you have to work on,” King said.
“I’ll always want another chance and still want the next kick.
“There definitely is a mental aspect when you miss a few in a row, but I feel like I’m getting better at trying to take each shot as they come and sticking to the routine.”
Teammate Jack Higgins spoke early this year about breathing exercises taught by club psych and former Lions and Roos player Dr Ben Robbins.
“We definitely do a lot of meditation and things like that and work on some triggers to bring us back to present, which is pretty helpful with goalkicking,” King said.
“It changes for each individual, whether it’s a deep breath at the top of your run or something like that.”
Every goalkicker has their own set-shot routine.
Western Bulldog Aaron Naughton developed his in 2019 – five walking steps and then five running steps.
Lloyd wants King to kick with more momentum, adamant his slow walk leaves him leaning back and losing control.
King wouldn’t divulge his routine – “it’s top secret” – but it’s certainly looked capable before.
Remember King’s 6.0 against the Crows at Adelaide Oval this year? Or the 4.1 he booted after halftime in the west against Fremantle?
Or last year’s 6.1 against West Coast in Perth?
Those wins foreshadowed the goliath everyone still expects King to become.
The 202cm full-forward with long arms is almost impossible to defend when he launches and leaps at the Sherrin.
Bodywork is his best disarmer and Steven May, as well as Melbourne’s collective backline, are King’s toughest obstacles.
“A lot of the defenders that I’m playing on are stronger than me so for now, when I’m not as strong as then, how I can negotiate that and still get run and jumps at the ball and use my body a bit more,” King said.
“It’s probably each week that you get more comfortable and you’re put in different situations and then for the next week you know you can handle those situations.”
King – a Games of Throne fan, who was speaking ahead of House of the Dragon release – likes the gore of the TV drama.
In AFL terms he is still a baby as a 22-year-old key forward. Now he wants to build his body up like some of those fictional beasts.
He’s at around 95kg and, slowly, filling out while twin brother Ben has also been bulking up during a year of knee rehabilitation.
“It takes a while and a lot of work to put on weight,” King said.
What axed Noble promises to bring to Saints review
- Russell Gould
St Kilda coach Brett Ratten labelled former North Melbourne coach David Noble the “ideal person” to lead a review into the club’s football department as decisions on several players loom.
Ratten lauded the impact of retiring veteran Dan Hannebery on the young players at the Saints as the injury-plagued 31-year-old confirmed his retirement, with ruckman Paddy Ryder’s future also up in the air.
His exit could be the first after the club confirmed it would be conducting a review of St Kilda’s football operations after the Saints missed the finals for the second year in a row.
Ratten welcomed the review and the involvement of Noble, who has worked at three AFL clubs, most recently as coach of the Kangaroos.
“We look back now and think we have let ourselves down. We are going to finish in that ninth, 10th position, and as a footy club we don’t want to be there, we want to play finals,” Ratten said.
“The review is something we are all open to. I think David Noble with his experience in three parts of a footy program — GM of footy, senior coach and list management — what an ideal person to come in and have a look at what we are doing here.
“Regardless if you have had a poor second half of the season or not, you should be reviewing your club each year because whether you finish second or third, if you don’t win it you need to strive for that premiership, which is darn hard to get.
“I’m excited and whatever comes of it will help us move forward.”
After just 17 games in four years at St Kilda, Hannebery will play his 226th and last AFL game this weekend, a decision that was only reached this week as the toll of continued injury fightbacks mounted.
“I’ve put in a mountain of work to get back and contribute this year, but what the end of the season would look like was always in the back of my mind,” said Hannebery, a three-time All-Australian and premiership player with Sydney in 2012.
“Footy has been cruel at times, but I’ve also been lucky to see the highest of highs and share them with some truly incredible people.”
Ratten said the success of Hannebery’s time at St Kilda shouldn’t just be measured in the amount of games he played.
“He didn’t play many games here and people will evaluate it through that and say it wasn’t a success,” the coach said on Thursday.
“But Dan has had a huge success on others off the field, worked closely with some of our younger players and his voice and leadership in meetings.
“He’s had a contribution here, not the way he would have wanted. What we can say is that he has contributed in different ways. He’s been first class.”
Fittingly, Hannebery will finish his career against the Swans, having played 208 games in red and white before his big-money move to the Saints in 2018.
Ratten confirmed the club was yet to offer 34-year-old Ryder, who has returned to Adelaide for family matters, a contract for 2023.
Ryder has previously signalled his want to play on, but there’s no guarantee he will.
“We’ll work through that,” Ratten said.
“He’s getting older and its challenging to get up each game. We’ll need to see where he’s at.”
Axed Roos coach to play part in Saints’ review
- Glenn McFarlane
St Kilda will undergo a post-season review of its football department with former North Melbourne coach David Noble set to play a role after the Saints’ frustrating end to the 2022 season.
The Saints won eight of the first 11 games this year before winning only three games in the second half of the season ahead of Sunday’s final round clash with Sydney.
Noble, who was sacked by the Kangaroos last month, is expected to play a role in the review as part of a panel of other football people.
His expertise in senior football administrative roles at Adelaide and Brisbane make him an ideal candidate to assist the Saints.
Senior coach Brett Ratten, who signed a new two-year deal in early July that runs through until the end of 2024, is not under any pressure. The review will focus on roles and responsibilities within the football department with a mindset of looking for improvement in an effort to lift the Saints back into the finals.
One of the club’s favourite sons Lenny Hayes could be returning to Moorabbin as part of Ratten’s coaching group, having temporarily stepped away from the game at the end of the 2020 season when he was an assistant coach at GWS.
A decision will be made soon on the future of veterans Dan Hannebery and Paddy Ryder.
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