THE immediate playing future of Aaron Hamill will be decided today, with the injured St Kilda star likely this week to undergo further surgery on his troublesome knee that will end his chances of playing in 2007.

St Kilda had a medical meeting yesterday to discuss how best to deal with Hamill and it was decided he would consult surgeon Ian Henderson again to assess how he should progress with his knee. Henderson had treated Hamill for his knee ailments in the past.

Hamill's knee flared up over the weekend while training. It did not pull up well from his comeback match for the Casey reserves earlier in the month. Hamill kicked four goals that day in what was meant to be his first step on the path to returning to senior football.

He attended training yesterday but did not participate in the main group work, instead completing stationary handball drills.

Coach Ross Lyon was clearly disappointed for Hamill yesterday and said he expected the rugged forward to undergo arthroscopic surgery by the end of the week.

"It clearly hasn't settled. He trained on the weekend. It's not perfect. He's speaking to the surgeon and (will) more than likely have investigative surgery," Lyon said. "And then the decision (on this season), once we know the facts, to be made (from that).

"I think it's highly unlikely (he'll play again this season) and we've been very transparent with that. But once it is season-defining and we have a strong program mapped out for him, we'll fill you in straight away."

Lyon called on the media to respect Hamill's privacy and not press him for comment "because it's been a really tough 18 months".

There has been speculation that with Hamill's five-year deal heavily back-ended he could be asked to either take a pay cut to remain on the list next year or retire. Neither question has been put to him yet but even a small cut from his expected $600,000 wage next year would give the Saints welcome salary cap relief.

St Kilda will go into its match against Carlton on Saturday without Justin Koschitzke after the club decided to accept a one-game sanction for striking Hawthorn's Robert Campbell during the second quarter of their match on the weekend.

With the match being the Blues' first after sacking Denis Pagan as coach, Lyon said the Carlton players were likely to have a heightened level of emotion, but that that should not have a major bearing on the match.

"I'm sure they'll be emotional and the spotlight now goes squarely on their players and their new coach and they would be looking for an improved performance," he said.

"When there's a statistical analysis done on it it's actually a 50-50 result so that's a bit of an urban myth that teams get up and win when they sack their coach.

"You hear John Worsfold talk a lot that if you need external motivation it may be an indictment on the group. But I was at Richmond when Robert Walls got sacked and they sort of lifted and won four out of their last five under Jeff Gieschen and you clearly saw Fremantle on the weekend put on a tremendous display.

"(Football's) played by men of flesh and blood, and emotion and spirit goes along with that."