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Inside story: Nasiah’s manager lifts lid on St Kilda talks
SEN • August 19th, 2025 11:49 am
Player manager Ben Williams has provided some fascinating insight into the Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera contract negotiations.
Williams, from Players Ink Sports Management, gave the lowdown to Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on how St Kilda locked away their star.
Wanganeen-Milera, 22, signed a two-year deal on Monday which sent the Saints’ faithful into delirium.
Williams answered a number of questions on SEN Breakfast regarding how the contract finally came to pass after rife speculation surrounding a possible move back to South Australia to Adelaide Port Adelaide.
Did you understand the gravity and the importance from a St Kilda point of view?
“They spoke about what he means to them on field and off field. They articulated their views very well and Nas obviously listened to them with intent, and decided to stay.
“He’s looking forward to the next two years at the club.”
Ultimately, what did it come down to?
“What it came down to was he wants to finish what he started with his teammates.
“He's got a lot of great relationships there that he plays with and also lives with, and has great relationships with his coaches.
“So, he just wanted to basically finish what he started and he's got faith in the direction of where the club's going, and he wants to be part of that.”
“Ultimately, that's what it came down to.”
Did St Kilda lowball you and Nasiah a while ago? Had they been more conducive to a larger amount of money, would the deal have been done a while ago?
“Not necessarily. I think they probably offered at the time what they thought he was worth, and Nas wasn't ready to entertain anything at that stage.
“So he just kept playing and kept pushing his price up subsequent to playing really well.
“He timed it well, so credit to him.”
Was he anxious about the fact that he remained out of contract? Was your advice to hold?
“Yeah, the advice was to hold purely because it wasn't affecting him at all.
“And we knew that as time went on, he'll have more knowledge about where he's at, where's the club at. Potentially other clubs with how they were going and all those sort of things.
“If he was anxious or if it was affecting his footy, maybe he would have had a different strategy, but it didn't bother him one iota.
“So we just thought, you may as well just keep playing and make the decision when you know that you're absolutely clear with it.”
At any stage did you think that one of the suitors might have had their nose in front?
“All the suitors presented themselves really well with their vision for Nas and their clubs.
“And when you have those meetings or you hear them out, that always sounds exciting, and you dare to dream and you imagine what you'll be like there.
“But at the end, he just kept coming back to where he wanted to play, and that was St Kilda. He’s got the utmost faith where they're going, and he can't wait to be a part of it.
“I think we've seen glimpses of it now, but particularly over the last month since he's been in the midfield, he's taken his game to another level.
“I think their planning, I would imagine, would be around him playing in the midfield next year.”
Was that part of it that he wanted to play in the midfield and he sought reassurance that that's where he'd be played in the future?
“Yeah, that was certainly a part of it.
“And in the coach's defence, he was going so well off the half-back flank and doing so well.
“So, it's always a big move moving a performing player, but they knew that Nas wanted to do that, and Ross had faith in him to move the magnets around and give him a shot in there, and he just kept growing and growing.
“It was always Nas' preference to end up in the midfield and hopefully he can play a lot more there over the coming years.”
What were Port Adelaide and the Crows trying to do to impress the family?
“They didn't really involve the family, to be fair.
“They would have happily have spoken to the family should the family have wanted to.
“His parents knew it was always Nasiah's decision, so they just sat back and let he and I go into the meetings and hear them out.
“And then Nas is such a mature person, as we've seen this year throughout this season with the negotiation, so they have the utmost faith in him that his decision making would be sound.
“To answer your question, the family didn't meet any of the clubs or anything like that.”
What was the thinking behind the two-year deal?
“It just gives him a bit more opportunity to grow as a player and as a person, and clearly it doesn't affect him being on short-term deals.
“So he just wanted to do that and to see how he's going, see how the club's going, and then reassess and hopefully extend in the future again.”
What was the length of contract that St Kilda had on the table?
“They were really fair, they would offer whatever Nas wanted.
“So if it was two years, four years, or a big 10-year deal, they were open-minded to all.
“They were flexible and when Nas said that he wanted to do two years, they were happy with that.”
Did the Melbourne game heroics up the ante at all?
“I don’t think we had to, I think all you guys were doing that for us.
“What a moment that was. Watching that last quarter and just seeing a great player just take over and then obviously all media and social media was lighting up, so I didn't really have to say anything to St Kilda about that.”
Did they came back again after that performance and offer more?
“Yeah, they did.
“To be fair, we didn't have to keep pushing them. They were sitting back respectfully, letting us just do his thing.
“They would have wanted us to come back to them with another price. At that stage, Nas was looking more and more likely that he was going to stay at St Kilda, so we didn't want to drag them along too much more.”
Are you surprised that we've reached this $2 million a year contract in 2025?
“I’m not surprised, but what I am surprised at is how the economy's jumped so quickly.
“So people like Nas now who are around that rumoured mark - let's say it's around that mark - marquee players were on a lot less literally a year ago.
“It’s amazing how quickly it's jumped, and I think people might be thinking about Tasmania (coming in) and TPP going up, numbers about other players being bandied around, and it's just given clubs more confidence to go, ‘You know what, we rate this player and we're gonna pay them X amount of dollars’.
“Am I surprised? No, not really, but I'm surprised how quickly it's gone up.”
Are you keeping an eye on the De Koning deal and negotiations there?
“With extensive media in the industry at the moment, you're hearing so much, and if you're not central to a deal or not in a deal, you don't know the exact mechanics of it.
“But you do hear figures like that, and I was aware of reportedly what TDK was being offered.
“So that sort of stimulates the market again by clubs then being more confident to offer those larger amounts with their own players.”
