Yeah that's fair. Max is the first player in over fifteen years at the Saints who I'm confident will be a genuine star. His contested marking looks like being an enormous weapon. He's top five in the comp this year and I think he will significantly improve still in that area. At the moment he looks great when he has a run and leap, but still gets out muscled by stronger opponents. As he gets older, he'll put on more size and be better in the wrestle. He's also got plenty of improvement in his aerobic game. As he gets more pre-seasons under his belt, I expect he'll develop his endurance and more take more uncontested marks up the ground. Re his groundball game, he is fantastic below his knees for someone of his size.I never assumed Ben king would reach max kings level of marking but purely said that he would improve as he matured.
my initial post was a genuine question for saints fans as I haven’t seen much of max.
I have an idea of how Ben could reach superstar forward as I’ve seen him play a lot. I don’t know how that looks for max, purely as I haven’t seen him as much,
Where do you see his improvement coming?
Seem like the guy who will just be a dominant aerially, or has he shown glimpses of other attributes - eg does he have scope to be a inside f50 ruckman ala Hawkins, can he just play close to goals or also get up the ground. Is he dangerous with ball on ground or goes out of the game a bit?
All genuine questions. Not trying to make it a pissing contest.
It's more the glimpses/quarters here or there turning into consistent footy that will be the main improvement though I think. He had quarters this year where he looked totally dominant against quality KPDs but wouldn't turn it into a full game. His back end to the season was really encouraging though. 24 goals and 28 contested marks in his last nine games. Even without any improvement, if he can produce that form over 22 weeks it's an AA season.