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Sport Nation
Why St Kilda's mega TDK offer has cost them a star
SEN • July 22nd, 2025 8:38 am
St Kilda are reportedly on the verge of securing a major contract with a star ruckman, but the deal could come at a more significant cost.
It has been well documented that Carlton ruckman Tom De Koning has been offered a whopping $1.7 million contract by the Saints to secure his services on a long-term deal, however does the significant financial offer put the club at risk of losing one of their own?
As previously reported, St Kilda have also offered their own star talent Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera an extension within the realm of $1.2 million, significantly short of the offer on the table for De Koning.
Over the course of this season, Wanganeen-Milera has proved to be the Saints’ most valuable player by some margin, averaging nearly 30 disposals, six score involvements and nearly 700 metres gained per game at just 22 years of age.
With the star flanker turned midfielder set to hit the market at the end of the 2025 season and obvious interest from his home state of South Australia, are the Saints at risk of losing Wanganeen-Milera as a result of the disparity between he and their desired recruit?
“Let me put it to you in this way,” former Crow Josh Jenkins told SEN Sportsday.
“If I was him, or if I was his manager… everything that’s been put out there about Tom De Koning and his potential contract, and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and his potential contract, there’s been about $500,000 difference.
“Everything has been Tom De Koning, $1.7 million, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, $1.2 million. Potentially a short-term deal might be the best way to get him to stay.
“If I’m Nasiah or am Nasiah’s camp, there’s no way in the world I am accepting of the fact that Tom De Koning is worth 1.7m and I’m worth 1.2m, to the same football club.
“'I am more valuable to this football club, and I have proven to you that I am more valuable to this football club than he is. There are other clubs that will pay more to wrench me out of this club.'
“I cannot align to a world where he would accept a deal that’s $500,000 shy of where Tom De Koning is. His value to that football club is beyond belief!
“That’s not me sitting here saying he’s one of the best 10 players that’s every going to play the game, but this is a football team that are bereft of players like him.
“They are bereft of skilled players who can be difference makers at a footy club. They simply cannot afford even for the optics of it, to seem like they’ve lost Wanganeen-Milera, because of their pursuit of Tom De Konig.”
With interest from both Adelaide and Port Adelaide ramping up as the season approaches its end, the Saints will desperately want to lock up their star man before it’s too late.
