Max King hasn't played an AFL game for St Kilda since signing an eight-year contract in October 2024, in a warning sign for club's chasing West Coast captain Oscar Allen.
After another setback on his troublesome right knee at training late last week, King appears unlikely to play AFL in 2025 with Round 18 the previous target for his return.
Long-term mega contracts have become all the vogue for star players in the AFL across recent years, but we are starting to see certain deals unravel because of unforeseen injury problems.
However, in King's case, the Saints signed him up until the end of 2032 despite knowing his questionable recent injury history.
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King suffered an ACL injury in 2018, before he recovered to relatively injury free in his first three AFL seasons across 2020, 2021 and 2022.
But at the back-end of 2022, King suffered a shoulder injury that wiped out his pre-season for 2023 and he only managed 11 games in that season.
In 2024, a knee issue ended his season early once again after only 12 games, but St Kilda still opted to lock him in for eight years despite surgery being needed on the knee.
This season, after the Saints initially said King would be fit for Round 1, there has been constant setbacks for the player's knee to the point where this campaign is nearly wiped out.
While the exact diagnosis and prognosis for King's knee injury are unknown, it must now be a worry that the gun forward could have a chronic issue that affects the longevity of his career.
Publicly, St Kilda are claiming that with King's lengthy contract, it's about getting his body primed to play his football. but surely they are now starting to be concerned about the player's actual future in the game.
Allen, like King, has a 50-goal AFL season under his belt but has struggled to get on the park in the past two campaigns because of knee issues, and was struck down by another leg injury during Sunday's match against Carlton.
Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley claims it would be 'irresponsible' for Allen's suitors - West Coast, Brisbane and Hawthorn - to offer a long-term big money contract to the player.
"It would be irresponsible for anyone to offer [Allen] anything over a two or three-year deal at anything over $700-750,000, at the moment," Buckley said on Fox Footy.
"Because the position that Oscar Allen is in is having to prove to his club — whether it’s West Coast or another club that comes for him — that he is robust enough physically.
"It doesn’t matter how good you’ve been or how good you could be, you’ve still got to show that you can actually do the work to get up and about — and right now, he hasn’t.
"If you want to take that risk, you need to understand the downside."
Clubs must be thinking twice about long-term deals, particularly as a concussion can now effectively end a player's career at anytime.
St Kilda will continue to pray they can get King fit and firing, as he forms a crucial piece in their road to possible success.
But it will be interesting to see what kind of contract Allen signs for 2025 and if club's attitudes are adjusting slightly with the risk they are taking on.