St Kilda’s list management — as well as an entire fan base — has today breathed a huge sigh of relief, as the “seismic” signing of Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera gives the club a new-found sense of hope after a mediocre season on-field.
The 22-year-old superstar’s new contract at Moorabbin is worth $2 million a year across two seasons, and now allows the Saints to reset their focus on securing Carlton rival Tom De Koning and other players of their own still out of contract.
Should De Koning head to Moorabbin at season’s end, as is widely expected, it will leave the Saints with an eye-watering 20% of their salary cap tied up alongside only two players, as explained by Fox Footy reporter Jon Ralph to On The Couch.
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“A seismic day in the AFL landscape … $2m a season over the next two years until the end of 2027,” Ralph said.
“As much as he decided he loved Ross Lyon and the potential flag window ahead, he told his manager today: ‘I just couldn’t leave my teammates, I couldn’t depart them.’
“Not only will St Kilda have the highest-paid player in the game next year (but) they’ll have the second-highest in Tom De Koning on an estimate of about $1.8m (per year).
“It’ll be right on 20% of the salary cap, which will be $18.3m — so that’s 50% on top of the highest-average salary this year for players like Christian Petracca. It is extraordinary money.”
Saints re-sign star Wanganeen-Milera | 02:54
Wanganeen-Milera’s decision to stay put at St Kilda comes after almost an entire home-and-away season of speculation as to whether he would depart his club of four years in favour of monumental interest from Adelaide and Port Adelaide in his home state of South Australia.
It comes after foxfooty.com.au’s Will Faulkner reported that only days before his eventual commitment to the Saints, the livewire was leaning towards an exit to Adelaide, however had not come to a conclusive decision.
Reports from multiple outlets on Monday evening have since reiterated that Wanganeen-Milera came to a formal decision on his future the same morning his re-signing was announced by the club.
Four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis added to Ralph’s commentary by noting that he sees the midfielder’s signing as a “positive”, but that the Saints were in a tough position, regardless of the outcome.
“I think they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Because if he goes, you lose hope in the immediate future,” Lewis said.
“But there has to come a period where ‘at what cost’ (is asked). We keep talking about premiership teams, teams that have been able to stay together for a long period of time — these aren’t necessarily the signing that happen, they just aren’t.
HIGHEST PLAYER SALARIES FOR THE 2026 SEASON
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera — $2m
Tom De Koning (if at St Kilda) — $1.8m
Chad Warner — $1.4m
Marcus Bontempelli — $1.35m
Christian Petracca — $1.3-1.4m
Matt Rowell — $1.25m
St Kilda’s attention can now divert also to GWS defender Leek Aleer, who has also been heavily linked to the Saints on a notable price tag.
Melbourne great Garry Lyon briefly spoke to the club’s salary cap on AFL 360, and on face value, believes that the sheer percentage of money shared between Wanganeen-Milera and ‘TDK’ may not be entirely unprecedented.
“To be perfectly honest, I’ve never dived into it — but I would imagine it’s been done before,” Lyon said.
“Say you’ve got a $10m salary cap, which it was not so long ago, that’s $2m out of $10m … I think ‘Gubby’ (Graeme Allan) and ‘SOS’ would say: ‘Let’s get this thing done, and then we’ll sort the back-end out.
“All that matters is that you got it together. Windhager, the roommate stays hopefully, Callum Wilkie (has) committed.”
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