It’s exactly a year since Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera played one of the great final quarters of recent years. There was no last-minute mayhem against North Melbourne on Sunday, like there was against Melbourne in 2025. But his game in totality was perhaps even more impressive: 46 touches and four goals in a half isn’t a bad day at the office. He’d collected a stack of possessions in the first half, but he hadn’t exactly bent the game to his will. He won the first few clearances of the third quarter, an area of the game the Saints dominated all day. He then loped forward and totally changed the dynamics of the contest.
The clues to how good Nas could be were evident right at the beginning of his career. Initially it was the way he moved, the way he slalomed and slunk with minimum exertion. Then it was the way he kicked, the way he took the risky options and pulled them off. You could see it all coming together off a bank flank. Then he was thrown into the middle. Then he started drifting forward. Throw in an opposition disinclined to properly clamp him and you have an incredibly dangerous footballer. North sent about half a dozen players to him on Sunday, all with varying degrees of competence and enthusiasm. There were no Irish henchmen to take him down like last week in Geelong.
