{"id":104105,"date":"2025-08-29T11:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T11:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104105\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T11:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T11:29:09","slug":"afl-saints-lock-down-rising-star-phillipou-now-for-silvagni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104105\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL: Saints lock down rising star Phillipou, now for Silvagni"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aug 29, 2025, 06:18 AM ET<\/p>\n

Mattaes Phillipou has become the latest player to commit his future to St Kilda after signing a two-year contract extension that ties him to the club until the end of 2028.<\/p>\n

The Saints have enjoyed a fruitful few weeks on the list management front, with their biggest success being convincing emerging superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera to re-sign for a further two years.<\/p>\n

Mattaes Phillipou celebrates a goal with his teammates in Round 24.\u00a0Photo by Jason McCawley\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It’s believed that contract made Wanganeen-Milera the AFL’s first player to sign a deal worth more than $2m a season.<\/p>\n

Carlton restricted free agent Tom De Koning has nominated St Kilda as his club of choice, with the eight-year deal on offer reportedly worth around $1.7m a season.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

And in a surprise twist, St Kilda have joined the race to sign Blues free agent Jack Silvagni, who is also being chased by Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

Silvagni’s dad, Carlton legend Stephen Silvagni, is the list manager at St Kilda.<\/p>\n

Phillipou was already contracted until the end of 2026, and the 20-year-old’s decision to add two more years reinforces his belief in the club’s long-term ambitions for success.<\/p>\n

Selected with pick No. 10 in the 2022 national draft, Phillipou played every game in his debut year and a further 13 games in 2024.<\/p>\n

A pre-season leg fracture and subsequent calf injuries limited him to just seven games this season, but the South Australian remains a key cog in St Kilda’s future plans.<\/p>\n

“Since arriving just three years ago, we’ve seen tremendous growth in Mattaes both as a player and a person,” St Kilda’s football manager David Misson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“His relentless commitment to getting better, whether that’s on the field or in the rehab group, has been second to none.<\/p>\n

“We’re very pleased to have him signed on and look forward to what he will continue to bring to the club’s future.”<\/p>\n

Phillipou said he was grateful for St Kilda’s show of faith in him.<\/p>\n

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” Phillipou said.<\/p>\n

“Although it’s been an up and down start to my career, I’ve never been more hungry and determined to repay the faith shown in me.<\/p>\n

“With the energy from the coaches and young core coming through, I’m very excited to be a part of the future here at the club.”<\/p>\n

St Kilda finished 12th this season with a 9-14 record, marking their second straight season out of the finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aug 29, 2025, 06:18 AM ET Mattaes Phillipou has become the latest player to commit his future to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-104105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}