AFL TV Wrap: St Kilda confirms Max King setback, Laura Kane’s key role in Jamarra comeback
There is a “heaviness” at St Kilda as a luckless forward’s injury nightmare continues, while the Blues respond to a surprise player movement call. Catch up on Monday night footy shows here.
Ross Lyon is rarely expansive on his injured players, but on Monday took the time to offer fresh insight into Max King’s frustrating knee battle as St Kilda grapples with what to do next.
And AFL executives have rarely received praise for their efforts on the football shows this season, but Laura Kane has been credited with smoothing Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s return to the Western Bulldogs.
If you’re not one of those rarely designed units that can plough through a full Monday night of football current affairs shows, you can catch up on the play-by-play here.
AFL 360
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon joined his decorated Geelong counterpart Chris Scott at the 360 desk, and was asked about Max King’s fresh knee setback which has dented the forward’s hopes of returning this season.
The Herald Sun first reported on Sunday that King had pulled up sore while running at Moorabbin as he attempted to return from a second round of arthroscopic surgery on his knee in April.
Lyon said while King remained determined to return to senior level, there was an occasional sense of “heaviness” about the two-time leading goalkicker as he dealt with repeat setbacks.
“(King) had been progressing really well, we were planning a round 17 (or) 18 return,” Lyon said.
“He was in a really good headspace, and then he just had a grab in the knee and decelerated from a run-through, not dissimilar to what he felt before.
“We thought we’d got to the root cause, but clearly we need to go do more investigation. It’s not (about the next) six weeks, it’s about (the next) six years … we would love him back, but we’ll just find a solution.”
Lyon said the Saints were not concerned about a major structural issue, but specialists were still yet to identify the cause of King’s discomfort.
“He’ll go and do some scans under load, because it seems to be a mechanical issue,” the coach said.
“There were some bone spurs they removed (in this year’s surgery), and obviously he’s had an ACL (in 2018), but the surgeons haven’t been able to identify anything else structurally, so we thought we’d got to the root cause.
“But clearly when moving under load, there’s a certain mechanism (of) something grabbing, and they need to figure that out.”
King booted 90 goals over the 2021-22 seasons before shoulder and knee issues restricted him to just 23 games since the start of 2023.
Scott took the opportunity to go into bat for Brownlow Medal favourite Bailey Smith, saying players and staff at Geelong had been “rankled” by reports that some players were unhappy with the antics of the high-octane midfielder.
“When I hear that, your first responsibility as a coach is to get to the truth ... ‘is there anything that we’re not across?’ And it’s an emphatic ‘no’,” Scott said.
“And in fact, it’s the opposite. They love him. Our staff love him.
“We’ve had enough to do with Bailey already to think ‘let him go’. And occasionally, because he is so high-profile, there’ll be a few things that maybe step over the mark — but I’d be staggered if it ever comes from a bad place.”
The Agenda Setters
After her prominent role at AFL House was split in two amid an overhaul of the league executive, football operations boss Laura Kane scored a welcome victory, according to Caroline Wilson.
Wilson said Kane had been instrumental in laying the ground for Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s return to Whitten Oval on Monday after an extended absence to deal with personal issues.
“Laura Kane has played a pivotal role ... she has met semi-regularly with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan,” Wilson said.
“(Kane) has played the biggest role of anyone from the AFL aside from the mental health boss Kate Hall.”
St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt was buoyed by the footage of Bulldogs teammates embracing Ugle-Hagan out on the track on Monday, and said it was the “best possible environment” for the 23-year-old to be in.
“It’s (also) self-interest for the Bulldogs, Jamarra becoming the best version of himself,” Riewoldt said.
In the “Roo’s Marks” segment, there was a resounding A-plus grade given to NewsWire journalist and good friend of this column, Marco Monteverde, for his votes in the Brisbane-GWS game on Saturday.
The votes? Three for Jesse Hogan, two for his young offsider Aaron Cadman, and one for Logan Morris after the three talls booted 16 goals between them in the entertaining shootout at the Gabba.
“Let (Monteverde) give every vote for every game for the Brownlow Medal! Let him give the Norm Smith Medal,” Riewoldt yelled.
As Wilson began to express her doubt that Geelong coach Chris Scott was considering the Tasmania job for 2028, her phone began to ring quite loudly to the surprise of her and fellow panellists.
This was not missed by the Footy Classified team, who had time to sit and watch the whole show before they went to air 45 minutes later.
Footy Classified
It was Matthew Lloyd who took the opportunity to sink the boot into his agenda-setting rivals, playing a clip of a lighting issue at the start of Seven’s flagship show and then the Wilson phone mishap.
But the panellists held off with their pointscoring until the end of a substantial episode where Sam McClure revealed Tom De Koning had signalled a desire to remain at Carlton by asking for a meeting with incoming chief executive Graham Wright on Friday.
“They had that meeting above the gym at the football club in Brian Cook’s office ... and in that meeting, Tom De Koning essentially asked Graham Wright: ‘if I am going to stay at this football club, what is going to change?’,” McClure said.
McClure said there had been a sense of “resignation” at Carlton that the star ruckman would depart for St Kilda’s massive long-term offer, but the meeting had renewed hopes he could be retained.
Damian Barrett and McClure doubled down on their contempt for the traditional 2.30pm grand final timeslot, but McClure clarified that he only wanted the game shifted to 4pm – a move that Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd said would be small enough to stomach.
“There’s not one team that asks for a 2.30pm Saturday game at any stage of any given season,” Barrett said.
On the Couch
The round 14 tall forward-takeover was welcomed with open arms by Couch panellists Jack Riewoldt and Jonathan Brown ... two weeks after Nathan Buckley said small forwards had gained ascendancy in the modern game.
“What’s this crap about small forwards taking over the game. I think you suggested that two weeks ago ... you were wrong, Nathan (Buckley). Admit it. Admit it live on TV,” Brown urged.
Buckley did not admit it.
The Collingwood champion later unpacked the dilemma facing Brisbane coach Chris Fagan after his side comfortably cleared GWS on the “expected score” metric – only to lose the game and approach their bye with just two wins from their last six.
“They’re creating a lot of opportunities ... (Fagan would be saying) we’re not going to create a problem that we don’t think exists. As soon as you start thinking about your goalkicking more, you’re generally going to get miss,” Buckley said.
“It’s like a golf swing ... you want to have one swing tip that you’re working on, and you want to consistently feel like you’re hitting them sweet.”
Brown said the season-ending knee injury to fullback Jack Payne was now of more concern to his former side than the departure of premiership spearhead Joe Daniher.
“Can you absolutely replace Jack Payne, who plays on the big boppers every week?” he said.
“60 goals are gone from Joe Daniher, and Jack Payne saves 30 or 40 goals (in a season) potentially.”
The Couch quartet pondered why struggling West Coast did not have “more vibrancy” under a first-year coach in Andrew McQualter.
Buckley put the blowtorch on senior players including co-captain Liam Duggan and Tim Kelly, who recently signed a contract extension to the end of 2027.
“I don’t know what else ‘Mini’ (McQualter) can do, to be honest. He’s moved players around, players have been dropped, players have been counselled, they’ve been asked for more,” Buckley said.
“In the end, the individual has to decide the purpose and the reason for him fronting up to prepare first and then perform, is enough to spend this time and energy on.
“When you’re getting rewarded regardless of the time and energy you’re putting in, that creates a problem.”
Originally published as AFL TV Wrap: St Kilda confirms Max King setback, Laura Kane’s key role in Jamarra comeback
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