AFL 2026: The tale of two Kings

Updated May 5, 2026 — 1:31pm,first published 12:02pm

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By the time he returns from his latest injury, assuming there is not yet another setback, Max King will have missed virtually the same number of games of AFL football as he has played.

It will be two years between AFL games for the rangy St Kilda forward who has already missed 73 matches to injury since he was drafted.

Given this hamstring injury is slated to see King miss six weeks – to be safe, you can sadly preface that with an “at least” now when it comes to his return-to-play timeframe – it will be 79 matches he will have lost to injury. He has only played 83.

Allowing for the fact he also played a handful of VFL games – coming back from injury, so not technically injured, but also not fit enough to play AFL – he has played 83 of a possible 163 games. About one in two.

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In the same time, his twin brother Ben – born a minute apart and drafted two selections apart in 2018 – has played 128 games and missed just 26 matches to injury. That is two full seasons difference in games played between the brothers, and that allows for the fact that, like Max, Ben has also done an anterior cruciate ligament, needed a knee reconstruction, and missed a year.

On Saturday night the two brother’s clubs – St Kilda and Gold Coast – play one another. But, again, Max won’t be there.

Since he signed a six-year contract extension at the end of 2024 taking him through until the end of 2032 on a seven-figure sum per season, Max has not played an AFL game. He shouldn’t be blamed for that, for the injuries are not his fault. It’s simply a point of fact.

It also reveals how much luck plays a part in recruiting. St Kilda have been unlucky, but they also chose to extend, long-term, the contract of a player who still had two years to run on his contract and had only once kicked more than 50 goals in a season with full knowledge of his troublesome injury history. King is only 25, though, so time is on his side.

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Not much could be expected this season of any player after so long out of the game, but a late-season return by St Kilda’s King could lift an attack that is already in rare Ross Lyon air after three successive scores over 100 points.

Tom De Koning and Rowan Marshall beat up on Carlton as rucks rolling forward to kick five goals between them at the weekend, but before that had only one goal each to their name for the season.

As foolishly glass-half-full as it sounds after his two years out, the idea of a King return in the second half of the season would reshape the structure, look and threat of the St Kilda forward line.

Yes, Saints fans have clung to this idea for two years, so what, if any, games they get out of him this year will be a bonus.

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When St Kilda drafted Max with pick four and Ben went to the Gold Coast with pick six, the Saints media eam cheekily – or obnoxiously if you were the Suns – posted on social media effectively saying to him, “see you in two years”.

It was not the last comment from the Saints the Suns took umbrage to. Ross Lyon’s nepo babies comment didn’t land well. There is obviously love between the King brothers, but not so much between their two clubs.

To date, the “if you ever want to come home” tweet with wink emoji hasn’t aged well. Ben has continued to sign contract renewals.

Theoretically, this is the year Ben – presently leading the lead goalkicking table with 28 – is most gettable. He is out of contract and a restricted free agent.

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Clubs other than St Kilda are also circling him. Collingwood and Melbourne are two obvious choices in need of another key forward and further attracted by the idea of him as a free agent. The Suns would be highly likely to match any offer for their player, so rivals shouldn’t get too excited about the prospect of buying him with house money.

Pursuing clubs might also want to consider that waving a cheque book (coincidentally St Kilda’s modus operandi last summer) at Ben might not be such a head-turner for him. He still drives a secondhand Hyundai. There would be very few 70-goal-a-season full-forwards scuttling about in a used Korean buzz box.

Since he established himself as a key forward on the Gold Coast – having typically played full-back as a junior when Max was in the same team and got first dibs on full-forward – it has become harder to see how St Kilda would work the twins into the same team without switching one back.

Regardless, the strongest indications presently are that Ben will probably stay on the Gold Coast and sign a two-year contract extension.

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There is a variable in all of this which folds it all back on the Gold Coast. They have young forward Jed Walter also out of contract. Ben King is their priority, but if they re-sign him will Walter re-consider staying?

Walter was a dominant junior and high draft pick – from what Lyon labelled the “nepo baby” academy – but reads the game like he is still learning the words.

He has yet to show he can play at the level, which is a concern but not one likely to stop clubs being interested in him. He is 20 years old and playing in a position where players gestate slower than elephants.

Walter has only played four games this year and currently Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has squeezed him out. Nothing can be certain about what happens next with Ugle-Hagan, for while his redemptive return has been encouraging, it is still baby steps.

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More:

AFL 2026

St Kilda Saints

Gold Coast Suns

Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X or email.

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