Saints, Nas aim to ‘shift the dial’ after massive deal.
St Kilda has two years to prove to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera that they are the real deal. On Monday, the Saints’ young gun re-signed, making him the AFL’s first $2 million-per-season player.
The 22-year-old’s future was the biggest trade rumour in the game, with Adelaide and Port Adelaide attempting to entice him back to his home state.
With Wanganeen-Milera signing for only two seasons, the Saints expect interest to grow even more.
Related Posts
“Two years is a commitment that we must shift the dial. “He gets to look at us and we get to look at Nas,” said coach Ross Lyon to the Seven Network.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera has signed a two-year contract extension with St Kilda, making Ross Lyon happy.
(Joel Carrett/AAP Photos) “Nothing else was happening (with St Kilda’s list management) until we got Nas done.” Tom De Koning, Carlton’s ruckman, is the Saints’ top recruiting target.
The restricted free agent will also command a large contract, and it is speculated that Wanganeen-Milera and De Koning will account for 20% of St Kilda’s salary cap.
Lyon, on the other hand, is adamant that they are prepared, claiming that losing Wanganeen-Milera would be “catastrophic”.
“No difficulty at all, because we’ve made a lot of hard decisions on highly-renumerated players that we didn’t think we were getting bang for buck,” he said.![Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera believes things are looking up for the Saints. (Scott Barbour/AAP PHOTOS)]( "Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera believes things are looking up for the Saints. (Scott Barbour/AAP PHOTOS)")
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera believes things are improving for the Saints. (Scott Barbour/AAP Photos) “Our salary cap is incredibly well-managed … we’ve been really disciplined.”
Lyon also confirmed in the off-season that they rewarded some senior players with additional payments and contract extensions after briefing them on recruiting plans.
“It’s just a show of good faith,” Lyon explained. Wanganeen-Milera, for his part, is determined to play an important role in St Kilda’s resurgence.
The Saints were not in contention for the playoffs this year, but have recently won four consecutive games. “Obviously, we want to build for success and win at any cost.
“That’s something I believe this group is capable of,” Wanganeen-Milera said in a club-produced interview.
“We have a young crew coming up and some good older boys as well.” I believe this crew is working hard to change the club and what it has become in recent years.
Read more on Straightwinfortoday.com
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.