St Kilda full-forward Max King will make his long-awaited return to footy this weekend, with the 25-year-old to line up in the VFL on Sunday, according to reports.
The Saints host the Suns at RSEA Park in a Round 5 VFL clash.
King hasn't played in the AFL since hurting a knee in Round 16 2024 (June 30).
He underwent surgery in 2024, then missed the entire 2025 season, before having another knee operation in December. King returned to training in January, but suffered a calf injury, which has kept him sidelined until now.
The Saints mulled whether to play King at AFL level without a VFL hit-out under his belt.
"Max has worked through a solid block of conditioning and contact training as he builds towards his return after missing a significant period of football," St Kilda's general manager of football, Lenny Hayes, said earlier in the week.
"Throughout what's been a challenging period, he's shown strong resilience and commitment to getting his body back to where it needs to be.
"We'll continue to lean on the advice of our high-performance team and won't take any unnecessary risks, but he's given himself every chance to be available this week."
Senior coach Ross Lyon also spoke on King's return to football after a long layoff.
"He's pretty keen to play AFL football, which is a great mindset," Lyon said.
"We just needed to give him the best opportunity, hold back his unbridled enthusiasm. I've learnt, with all our players, to take it one moment at a time, one session at a time.
"We're thrilled for Max. He's an important part of our list.
"I'm realistic, it'll take time for him to build to his best, but we'll give him supply, ball movement in the AFL and he's moving well.
"It could be just this week (before he's AFL ready)."
