By Peter Ryan
The contract value of St Kilda midfielder Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera is spiralling upwards after his match-winning performance against Melbourne on Sunday.
The out-of-contract 22-year-old’s revised offer from St Kilda of $1.4 million per year for two seasons may not have peaked yet. His other two suitors, Port Adelaide and Adelaide, hope the call of home and a long-term deal worth well in excess of $1 million per year will be enough to jolt him out of the Saints, where he was last seen riding on the shoulders of coach Ross Lyon at the Brighton Hotel.
Wanganeen-Milera, or Nasiah the Messiah after Sunday’s heroics, is the hottest name in the game right now, etched in Saints’ folklore. He has leapfrogged other elite midfielders and become a higher priority signing for the Saints than the players they are chasing, including Carlton ruckman Tom De Koning and the Giants’ Leek Aleer.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera on Ross Lyon’s shoulders.Credit: X
“He’s a superstar. He’s a freak,” ruckman Rowan Marshall said. “We saw what he did [Sunday] night but we have been seeing that for a long time.”
Not only is the potential financial reward increasing, but so is his potential trade value.
Port and the Crows are certain to start their offers with future draft picks, but the Saints would be entitled to eye off players such as Port pre-agent Zak Butters, or a collection of talented young contracted Crows. None of the three clubs has got to the point of considering that scenario until an agreement is reached, but the South Australian clubs are confident they could get a deal done given Wanganeen-Milera is out of contract.
If South Australian clubs aren’t prepared to give up a player of equal quality to Wanganeen-Milera, there may need to be a third party involved who could offer St Kilda something now in return for future draft picks. Perhaps involving Melbourne or Carlton in such a deal would be necessary.
The contrast between the way St Kilda midfielder Wanganeen-Milera and De Koning have been used in 2025 has also been indicative of the status in which they are held at their respective clubs.
Wanganeen-Milera has carried the team – with the coach repaying the favour on Sunday night, when a grainy video emerged of the star player aboard Lyon’s shoulders at a jubilant pre-arranged team function.
The other – TDK – has played as though he is carrying the world on his shoulders, as he has during a very flat, unsettled period at the Blues. De Koning has been forced to play forward in the past month and his impact has dipped significantly.
Even after his heroics, no one at St Kilda (or Adelaide or Port Adelaide for that matter) is quite sure what Wanganeen-Milera is thinking about his future.
But they know for certain he is worth every bit of the $1.4 million per year on offer, with competition sources saying he should receive as much as De Koning’s offer of $1.7 million per year. The negotiations are also being held amid reports that West Coast midfielder Harley Reid, whose season is over due to injury, could command $2 million per season.
The Saints’ coaches have not shown any concern about Wanganeen-Milera’s price rising, playing him where his talents are on full display. The move into the midfield has seen him serve up gourmet football.
In his past four rounds Wanganeen-Milera has averaged 34 touches, kicked six goals and had two experienced coaches – Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell and Geelong’s Chris Scott – acknowledge his skill and pace.
His match-winning efforts on Sunday were a culmination of football IQ, pace and courage that left Marshall shaking his head in disbelief 24 hours later.
With eight seconds left, the ruckman had shown his skill with a perfectly weighted kick into the space he, Wanganeen-Milera and fellow plotter Marcus Windhager had identified as the place they could get isolation.
They weren’t subtle in their instructions but they somehow confused Melbourne.
The Demons players stormed back to the congestion leaving Wanganeen-Milera to do as he pleased, which was to run past a stunned Kysaiah Pickett, who may have applied a block or disrupted his opponent’s run, and into space.
Demons vice-captain Jack Viney was flat-footed on wing rather than the corner of the square, with no chance of out-running Wanganeen-Milera, who covered about 50 metres in 5.59 seconds to take the grab.
“Lucky enough the kick came off and ‘Nas’ went back with the flight of the footy. It was pretty courageous,” Marshall said.
Marshall described the win as the best he has experienced in his career, one which included a finals win in 2020.
With Sunday’s party now over, serious matters remain at top of mind. Will “Nas” stay or will he go?
“Obviously I hope he stays. He is such an integral part of this group. All the boys love him but at the end of the day I guess that is up to ‘Nas’ and his manager to sort out,” Marshall said.
The other intriguing question is whether Marshall will stay a Saint if De Koning arrives.
“Obviously he is a great player so whatever is going to make us better. That is what we are trying to do and he will make us a better team,” Marshall said.
“This is going to sound so cliched. I have not really given it too much thought. There’s four games left and I am employed by the St Kilda football club to rock up each week and perform.
“That’s just my sole focus at the minute. The last two or three weeks have been pretty disappointing individually. I just want to finish the season with a strong patch of form and go into next year.”
And with that, Marshall was back to talking about the 6-6-6 rule’s finest hour, the moment that etched Wanganeen-Milera in football folklore when a set play set the Saints on course to break a long-standing record, a win that erased most of the losses that had gone before.
“It was probably the best moment I have had in footy,” Marshall said.
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