The positional switch King thinks Lyon must make to lift Saints out of slump

David King is at a loss as to why St Kilda have regressed so far in 2024.

After playing finals in Ross Lyon’s first season back at the club in 2023, the Saints have started this campaign 3-7, with their wins coming against only North Melbourne, Richmond and Collingwood – when they stumbled out of the blocks to start the year.

King was big on St Kilda’s prospects in the pre-season, particularly as they added the likes of Liam Henry in the off-season, but their defence hasn’t been as strong as last campaign while they continue to struggle to score.

The SEN host isn’t sure whether it’s Ross Lyon’s fault that the Saints are failing as he begins to get creative with his weapons at the contest.

“He spun a lot of magnets through the middle of the weekend for not a great return from quite a few of them,” King said on SEN Mornings.

“What more do you want Ross to do? People say, ‘Oh, you defend Ross’, I’m not defending Ross, I thought they would be better this year than what they were last given the pre-season that I saw them have.

“They were ready to go, and I thought their talent this year is of a higher level than last year. I liked their acquisitions. I liked what Liam Henry was doing early in the year.

“But for whatever reason it hasn't translated and sometimes you get this. Sometimes you get a year that's just inexplainable why things don't necessarily work.”

One reason why the Saints haven’t improved is due to a lack of progression from some of their key youngsters.

Mattaes Phillipou, Mitch Owens and Max King among others aren’t performing as well as they were in 2023 despite having another pre-season under their belts.

“I thought Philippou would be a better player,” King said.

“I thought Owens would have a better year. Henry's been injured - I get that - but I thought he might have been able to influence their games a bit more.

“I thought that Max King would have a better season, he was terrific on the weekend with his competitiveness, but why do we have to talk about it for nine weeks to get it (the effort) in the 10th?

“It's the Harley Reid discussion for me, he comes in and plays with an anger and a passion that lifts all ships.

“Who's doing that at St Kilda, who's saying, ‘Come with me’, and I know the captain's been a little bit banged up.”

One thing King thinks Lyon must do to try and give his on-ball unit some “pizzaz” is put half-back Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera at the contest.

While the 21-year-old has been one of his side’s best players in defence in 2024, King urged Lyon to throw the former No. 11 pick on the ball.

“I just don't know where their pizzaz is coming from at the moment,” King said.

“I plead with Ross to keep putting Wanganeen-Milera in the midfield because they just need to see someone do it differently and he may not be their best-contested possession winner, but I don't know if every player that goes in the middle is their best-contested winner.

“He put Phillipou in there 10 times on the weekend for four touches. You’ve got to try someone else. You can't do any worse.

“That's just a passion piece for mine.”

St Kilda will be desperate to bounce back when they face Melbourne at the MCG next Sunday.