How Saints kept their superstar and the ripple effect of ‘The Decision’

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera celebrates with St Kilda fans after the Saints’ win over Melbourne in round 20, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

THE LONG wait ended with a short conversation.

On Monday lunchtime, as Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera settled on his decision to stay at St Kilda on a two-year deal, the first person he told was coach Ross Lyon. His coach was euphoric, the player relieved to have finally made his call.

That commitment that he was signing on and knocking back the mega offers from Adelaide and Port Adelaide to remain until at least the end of 2027 was more of a relief for everyone else at St Kilda, who had been hanging on his decision with growing daily dread.

Players don’t wait this long and then stay, do they? Generally not, but players also don’t tend to traverse a contract year with the precision, class and brilliance that Wanganeen-Milera has displayed on his way to becoming football’s first ever $2 million player, as revealed by AFL.com.au on Monday.

After that conversation with Lyon on Monday, Wanganeen-Milera’s manager Ben Williams from Players Ink Sports Management called and emailed the Saints to confirm they had accepted the landmark offer.

It had been with them since late last week, after Williams and Saints president Andrew Bassat had caught up in Melbourne on Thursday night to discuss the contract. The Saints were none the wiser over the weekend as Wanganeen-Milera mulled the deal amidst another exciting performance against Essendon to solidify his status as one of the game’s best players at 22 years old.

It wasn’t Bassat’s first big move in the bid to keep Nas.

Two weeks earlier, the St Kilda president and list manager Stephen Silvagni flew to Maroochydore to meet with Williams and put forward their case. So desperate was the club to catch up with the star’s agent, who also looks after the likes of Isaac Heeney, Connor Rozee, Riley Thilthorpe, Errol Gulden and Jason Horne-Francis, that they met Williams in Queensland while he was there with his family watching son Harry play for South Australia’s under-12s state team.

Again, the Saints left without a hint on which way Wanganeen-Milera was leaning as Port came with a comparable offer around the $2 million a season mark and the Crows were also in the mid to high one millions. All clubs were open to whatever tenure the player was looking for – two, four, six, 10, 12-year deals were all on the table.

There is keeping a secret in footy, and then there is the way Wanganeen-Milera and his camp kept quiet on his intentions until he was fully decided, whilst also having an All-Australian season that catapulted him into the top echelon of the game. That Monday’s signing came out of the blue just days after his somewhat sheepish interview post-game after the win over the Bombers, which had Saints fans fearing the worst, probably summed up the whole wait.

The strands of The Decision reach everywhere.

For St Kilda, the difference one signature means for the rest of their plans is significant. It will help the Saints re-sign Marcus Windhager, Wanganeen-Milera’s housemate and loved teammate, who is weighing a two-year offer from St Kilda against strong rival interest.

It will buoy further Tom De Koning, who is already in on his move to the Saints from Carlton, but will go there knowing he has Wanganeen-Milera to tap to at ruck contests from round one next year.

The Saints’ heavy load of cash will be eaten up by two players on more than $2 million each next year – it is understood De Koning’s offer has been front-ended to a degree – but it is an exciting duo. If they have their claws into other players, as well as defender Leek Aleer, having Wanganeen-Milera there helps the sell.

For Port and Adelaide, it is a lot of planning, wishing and hoping amounting to nothing this time around. Both clubs were well in the race and will now reassess before coming again in two years.

Port had hoped its links to the Saint through close friends Jase Burgoyne and Jason Horne-Francis could win him over, plus his family ties to the club through uncle Gavin Wanganeen. They had presented to him with incoming coach Josh Carr and wanted him to be there alongside Zak Butters, Horne-Francis and Connor Rozee in the midfield next year.

The Crows had ties too, having been with Wanganeen-Milera in their Indigenous Academy before he was drafted. Their looming finals series, long rebuild and exciting game style was part of a pitch that had plenty to like.

Both clubs will now move forward with Wanganeen-Milera, who loomed as the trade period’s biggest chip, now off the table.

What are the repercussions around the league? Adelaide is in for Essendon free agent Sam Draper, so having missed out on Wanganeen-Milera, do they up their interest in the ruckman to outbid Brisbane? They are also in the mix for Lions premiership player Callum Ah Chee, so he will become an even bigger priority.

Victorian rivals hoping Wanganeen-Milera would choose Port Adelaide, so that they could try prise Butters out of Alberton Oval this off-season, would also be less enthused about their chances of that.

The Power have been firm all year that their gun No.9 would be seeing out his deal next year, having offered him a mega extension earlier this season. But rivals had hoped that if push came to shove in the trade period, Butters would be the chip required for Port to get Wanganeen-Milera, even though Port had other plans to get something done.

Other clubs, too, had been waiting to get a sense of Wanganeen-Milera’s call to see the ripple effect of the other trade dominos.

They – like St Kilda – need wait no longer.