St Kilda teammate Mitch Owen weighs in on his housemate Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s big contract call

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s future is the talk of Moorabbin as he helps spearhead St Kilda’s next era. But what’s life like inside the home of the rising star? Mitch Owens lifts the lid on the dynamic.

Mitch Owens does most of the cooking.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera helps around with the odd jobs.

And tagger Marcus Windhager doesn’t do much.

Yet St Kilda’s household of young stars is all playing career-best football under their own re-signed coach Ross Lyon.

Now comes the challenge for Owens to get his two good mates to follow his own commitment, a four-year extension through to free agency.

Fellow NGA recruit Windhager’s deal should be a doddle but Wanganeen-Milera’s signature has so far proved elusive.

Yet nights like Friday — as a Ross Lyon coaching masterclass helped orchestrate Fremantle’s downfall — can only help.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera is a man in demand.

Owens was brilliant (three goals, 18 possessions) and was also able to show off his Japanese heritage with a lovely deep bow to the fans after one of those majors.

Windhager had a rare night off tagging, playing on the wing as the Saints got the job done on Angus Brayshaw and Caleb Serong in a midfield blitzkrieg.

And Wanganeen-Milera again sparkled with 28 possessions, 577 metres gained and 10 marks playing midfield and defence.

St Kilda remains quietly optimistic about Wanganeen-Milera in part because of his strong friendships with the group while also aware of monster bids from South Australia.

Owens is trying to balance just being a mate with the reality that St Kilda is that much closer to a premiership if Wanganeen-Milera does end up re-signing.

“It’s been good fun with me, Marcus and ‘Nas’ living together. We have lived together for about six months now. I will say I probably do most of the cooking, Nas does most of the cleaning and Windy does absolutely nothing. So hopefully he can step up his game, but he’s improving, to be honest,” he told this masthead.

“We love going out for dinner. We have been playing a lot of poker and we get the boys over a lot so we are always pretty busy doing something.”

Will Wanganeen-Milera stay?

“I think so. He’s got really good connections with players and coaches,” Owens said.

“And yeah, he’s playing great footy. I’m sure ‘Nas’ and SOS (list boss Steve Silvagni) and Gubby (head of talent/acquisition Graeme Allan) are chatting. I’ll leave it to them, but I would love for him to stay because he’s become a great friend as well.

“I (pester him) a little bit, but I try to give him some privacy because it’s all over the media and it's the last thing he wants to hear is from his housemate.

“But he’s so important. He brings so much talent and effort to the team. I absolutely love playing with him. You always know what you get from him each week.”

Mitch Owens takes a bow after kicking a goal against Fremantle.

Owens’ own decision to stay as a former NGA graduate was a no-brainer: “I have been with the club since I was 15. I absolutely love the club and love the people here. Also being a local boy made it really easy for myself.”

But he admits after his exceptional breakout second season he found it challenging to back up the 26-goal 23-contested mark haul.

He still managed 20 goals last year and played every game but didn’t quite have the impact of that second season.

“I think last year was pretty frustrating year for me. I probably took a step backwards, but I think last year taught me so much more mindset and everything.

I probably got in my own head a bit too much, I think the year before I felt like I had a good year, and felt like I had a lot of expectations about meeting it, and then probably got to my head and probably struggled with that.

But as each game went on last year, I learned a lot about myself mentally, which I think it’s helping me a lot this year.”

He has worked with the club sports psychologist to stay level – not too high, not too low – although it could be said Ross Lyon gives his own lessons on sporting psychology.

The “GET UP” written in black sharpie on his taped wrist indicates just how deeply Lyon’s lessons in life and football are embedded.

“Ross was absolutely hammering into us this weekend, to help the defence with our system. “I guess if we didn’t do that then it wouldn’t look too good on the review. So I wanted to make sure I get up (to help the team defence) so it wouldn’t come up on the clips. I absolutely love him. I love the way he coaches. I think the boys love it when he gets a bit on edge.

“We are still really calm through the week but when he brings a bit of edge he puts everyone on edge to really bring that effort and come back to system. So it was great.”

The bow was a nod to mum Maki’s Japanese heritage and took some bravery to show given he isn’t one for extravagant flourishes.

“Mum is Japanese and I love to celebrate my heritage. I brought it out in round 3 but I had been planning to do it for two years before that but I was always too scared. So I think I have have got the confidence to bring it out again and I thought it was the right time.”

Originally published as St Kilda teammate Mitch Owen weighs in on his housemate Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s big contract call