There's a whole lot of news to come out of RSEA Park this week.

Catch up on all the latest from Ross Lyon and Acting General Manager of Football David Misson from this morning's press conference.

Return of the King? 

In positive news, key forward Max King may not be sidelined for as long as initially thought.

After what first appeared to be a season-ending injury, Acting General Manager of Football David Misson confirmed today that King could possibly return to senior footy in 4-5 weeks.

However, there will be no “undue risks” taken as the possibility of a return remains, with King needing to pass several benchmarks in order to play again in 2023.

David Misson on Max King…: “The encouraging news from the surgeon is there’s an opportunity to rehab it in the season and get him back to play in probably four to five weeks. The surgeons assured us two things: A, that if he does sublux again when he does come back to play it won’t damage the joint any further, but (B)… whenever he does have the Latarjet it’s not going to compromise his pre-season."

Ins and outs

While facing some significant outs – with Max King (shoulder), Zaine Cordy (concussion), Jack Billings (thumb) and Seb Ross (hamstring) all to miss through injury – the Saints will be buoyed by some key returns.

Bradley Hill and Josh Battle will both be strongly in the mix to return after missing Round 17 with knee and concussion setbacks respectively.

Hunter Clark and Jack Hayes’ names will be talked about at the selection table after playing their return games at VFL level last week, while Jack Higgins is set to miss again as he recovers from knee soreness.

No standing still

Last week’s loss to Melbourne was not without its silver linings.

Ross Lyon asserted that accuracy in front of goal and some costly errors in defence were what separated the two sides on Saturday night, in spite of the Saints winning the inside-50s 52-46.

Wary of a galvanised Gold Coast Suns following the departure of head coach Stuart Dew, Lyon and the players are very clear on the path to improvement.

Ross says…: “I thought we played really well last week, we just left some opportunities on the table. We took a lot out of last week and we know what we need to improve on. We’re really excited at what our best looks like. All of us need to keep improving. Either you’re improving or going backwards, there’s no standing still.”