St Kilda coach Ross Lyon believes there has been a lot of "hyperbole" surrounding the Max King injury situation.
The Saints' talented tall forward went down injured again on Saturday during his second VFL match following a stint on the sidelines that stretches back to Round 16, 2024.
King injured his hamstring after leading for a mark and will miss 4-6 weeks as he recovers, but Lyon said during Thursday's press conference that too much has been made about how St Kilda has run King's on-going recovery.
"It's not ideal, but I mean there's just a lot of hyperbole about it," Lyon said. "You've gotta go outside the club', like we have had him (in America with a movement coach), we have had him with one of the best physios in Australia at the AIS.
"Then there was reference made that we don't let our players work with anyone outside, and it was you (Kane Cornes). But the bottom line is that happened before this regime when 'Matty' Lloyd reached out. Let's go back to the 2010 grand final with the bounce you know?"
The mention of Lloyd is in reference to 2021 when the Essendon legend offered to help a wayward King with his set shot goal kicking. But the Saints declined the help, instead choosing to try and fix King's goal accuracy internally.
Lyon assured St Kilda fans that they should not be concerned about the long-term future of King, saying he was sure the 25-year-old would recover fully and be slotting goals in the red, black and white for many years to come.
"At the end of the day, it was really the one long term injury, which was the knee, that we were conservative of," he said. "If there's an error or if you had your time again you would be more aggressive, section out the meniscus and he probably plays 10 or 12 games last year.
"But because we have the welfare of the player in mind and long term, we went the repair. That was a low percentage chance.
"Therefore, because that went just before summer, you know Christmas, it just sets you back and then he is a bit of a deconditioned athlete that we are bringing back. He is gonna get there, it's not repetitive soft strain issue, that's a nonsense.
"It's an opinion business, but for Max, obviously we have to build him up and we will be more conservative again, but he will get there I've got no doubt."
