David King is excited about what St Kilda youngster Mattaes Phillipou could become in the coming years.
Last year’s number 10 draft pick was one of the youngest players in his underage year and is still yet to turn 19 as he was drafted as a 17-year-old.
Despite being the youngest player in last year’s draft, Phillipou shone in his first season in the red, white and black, playing 24 games under Ross Lyon.
While he featured primarily as a forward, Phillipou showed signs that he could evolve into a big-bodied midfielder and King believes he has a seriously high ceiling.
He compared the teenager to a young Marcus Bontempelli and pondered whether Phillipou could eventually put the club on his back and dominate games.
“I just want to see how far or what the ceiling is for Mattaes Phillipou,” King said on SEN Afternoons.
“I think he could be a Marcus Bontempelli type who could just throw the club on his back at some stage down the path.
“It's probably not going to be 2024 … but if he can just do it for a game or two and just show us little snippets that he is the player that I believe he is and many do (it will be huge).
“The good judges at St Kilda are so excited by what he's about to bring to that football club.”
Apart from Phillipou, King is most excited to see the growth from other young Saints like Marcus Windhager and Mitch Owens.
On top of the youngsters, he wondered whether someone could follow Jack Sinclair’s path of improving from a good AFL player to an elite star with one pre-season.
“Then just growth,” King said.
“I think the Saints have got a lot of growth in terms of (Marcus) Windhager and I’m a massive Mitch Owens fan.
“Where do they go with those young players? I think that is all the rage.
“They need someone to jump out from just being a good, average AFL player to being a top line, ‘Come with me’, type.”
St Kilda finished 6th in 2023 in Ross Lyon’s first season back at the club but fell in a home Elimination Final to GWS.