Christmas in July: Wanganeen-Milera delivers another performance worthy of three votes

Nasiah the messiah should get the three votes

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera defeated the Kangaroos to keep the Saints’ wildcard chances alive.

He charged into the game like a fire truck scattering traffic when he kicked three goals and created another goal for Darcy Wilson after chasing down Finn O’Sullivan in the third quarter.

Not only did his sheer brilliance shift the contest, his presence lifted teammates and signalled a return to form after he lost his way against the close checking Cat in round 19.

He became the first player to reach 30 disposals, gain 750 metres and kick three goals in the first three quarters. Then he kicked the Saints’ first goal of the final quarter with a steal from Caleb Daniel that ended with a running banana.

The performance was a reprise of his memorable two-vote winning effort against Melbourne on July 27 last season (it was July 26 on Sunday) and a reminder of the reason the Saints paid such a large percentage of their salary cap this season to keep him. Does he get changed in a phone box before games at this time of the year?

Thankfully, the umpires have the statistics on hand when voting for the Brownlow. Surely 46 touches (even allowing for kick-ins), four goals, and five clearances will earn him BOG honours.

The 34-year-old who out-scored Essendon

Jack Gunston’s seven-goal haul against Essendon helped the cause of veterans wanting to play on in 2027.

He is 34, has kicked 100 goals in his past 30 matches, and kicked a matchwinning behind for the Hawks on Easter Monday against Geelong. He has now kicked five bags of five goals this season.

According to @sirswampthing he became the third-oldest player to outscore the opposition with his 7.2 (44) topping the Bombers 5.9 (39) on Saturday.

His performance was a timely reminder of the increased presence and influence of older players in the competition in the same week he and 36-year-old Cat Patrick Dangerfield signed on for another season.

Unusually, the trend has become the old-timer’s friend. It’s no longer unusual to have at least half a dozen players on a club list who are 30-something.

In 2026, there were 112 listed players still getting dirty in their 30s. In 2016, there were only 65.

In 2026, eight players of the top 20 highest rating players in the competition are 30-something. In 2016, the only player was then Suns’ champion Gary Ablett jr.

Four of the top players in this year’s coaches’ votes are in their 30s right now. In 2016 there were zero.

The shift has not just occurred because the money is too good to pass up and sports science has improved player longevity.

Clubs now recognise how valuable it can be to have older players on their list as long as they fill a few preconditions.

They need to lose the grumpy pills which are allocated to everyone in greater numbers after each year after they reach 30.

That means accepting a different role which may mean playing out of the midfield, or less game time, or fewer games, or even playing VFL and accepting the importance and satisfaction of the often underappreciated teaching job.

Of the top 15 oldest players in the league, only Melbourne’s Max Gawn has played every match and remains at his peak every match. The rest have accepted something different. Even Gawn has pulled back a little to give Max Heath a taste when possible.

Resisting the temptation to be grumpy means taking notice of players and people in the program, passing on wisdom and enjoying the achievements of those many years your junior. You can set some people straight or you can expand your own sense of what is possible and gain a new lease of life.

Anyone who saw teammates celebrate the 600th career goal of the friendly curmudgeon that is Gunston by making him the centre of attention understood how great clubs are built on connections between generations.

To play on, a player needs to maintain their weapons so they can be deployed in a role that suits the team’s needs – if not every match then often enough.

Dangerfield’s power remains although it’s used to win or halve contests inside 50 rather than in the midfield where he would need to work too hard to stay in the game.

Scott Pendlebury’s poise and ability to put teammates into space is a feature, Jeremy Howe’s leap and defensive know-how is strong, Dayne Zorko hasn’t lost his pace or capacity to kick darts.

In an excellent piece of coaching, Gunston has had a role created for him inside 50 which suits his strengths. The disconnected forward leads hard and is an accurate set shot. It’s not easy but certainly his workload is less than others. Imagine what Ben King will learn from him next season?

They are no longer their club’s best players – although they can be the best man on the ground in a quarter or half occasionally as Gunston was in the third quarter on Saturday – but the team is better for their presence.

Clubs have also decided a veteran who can play can add depth to their list and complement their team in a way a mediocre mid-20s player can’t.

It’s why free agency has proved a bigger boon for strong teams than weaker ones (Good old Lachie Neale forever?).

They can add quality players who increase competition for spots, add poise and experience and therefore valuable lessons to both AFL and VFL teams, and during the week when clubs undergo situational training their input is useful.

It’s recognition of a point champion cricketer Greg Chappell made in his book Not Out – accepted wisdom among coaches without ego – that players learn better from their peers than coaches.

There is also an in-built resilience in veterans as they navigate a long season under scrutiny with all sorts of ups and downs that helps younger players find perspective when challenges inevitably arise.

The extra man on the bench has also given an impetus to the clubs’ willingness to retain veterans as they can manage their time better and have more options when planning how they are going to cover roles.

Going on might be good for Gunston and his peers, but this situation has not arisen because clubs have suddenly become generous. The times they are a-changin’ and the veterans’ importance will be on display in September when they challenge the relatively inexperienced premiership favourite Fremantle.

For the Suns, it’s a season not to forget

‘F— off’ should not be the phrase of choice between Suns’ teammates given the unfortunate pattern of players taking the direction literally.

That teenager Leo Lombard chose to direct that response to animated feedback from a frustrated veteran Christian Petracca is not ideal but it can be easily addressed. It’s not uncommon for interactions between teammates to get off track midway through games.

The problem for the Suns is that it reinforces the sense among other clubs that Suns’ players argue on field more than other teams in 2026 (officials at two clubs had mentioned this Suns’ characteristic to this column in the past few months).

It also symbolises a season that has spun out of control since their win over Port Adelaide in round 10 in Darwin, when they sat fourth on the ladder and Ben King indicated he wanted to stay at the club.

No doubt they have unravelled, but a more in-depth look at their performances indicates more lies behind the drop-off than suggestions of discord, of which there have been plenty, all denied by the Suns.

In those first 10 matches, they beat an underdone Geelong, followed by wins over battlers West Coast, Richmond, Essendon, Giants, St Kilda and Port Adelaide.

Since Darwin they ran out of legs against North Melbourne then have lost to Brisbane, Geelong, Hawthorn, Fremantle, Collingwood, Adelaide, Western Bulldogs and now Carlton.

That’s like a racehorse being found wanting when stepping up to the wrong grade.

Add other elements and a clear picture emerges than the shadow the Suns are casting right now.

Injury has ruined Matt Rowell’s year, Mac Andrew’s development has been slow, the ruck rules have pushed Jarrod Witts off the cliff, Bailey Humphrey became distracted by trade talk, and Ben Ainsworth, Sam Flanders, Brayden Fiorini, Connor Budarick and David Swallow all exited after playing in the winning final and were replaced with more talented but less ready players such as Lombard.

The other – more existential issue – is that problems of retention have not been solved with Rowell the next contract discussion to be had.

And their team needs to deal with frustration better and bounce back from disappointment. That is something they can’t stick their head in the Surfers Paradise sand and hide from.

Smart play young man

Carlton’s Lewis Young went back on his mark further than Michael Holding on his run-up when he had a set shot late in the game against Gold Coast. He not only used the 30 seconds available for players taking a set shot but by taking the Ben Brown run up was able to drain another 14 seconds off the clock during his run-up before kicking. The time remaining went from 3.48 to 3.04 minutes left in the game. It will be interesting if someone tries the same [long] approach in finals.

Later that night, Richmond’s Luke Trainor kicked the ball out on the full from outside the boundary line after receiving a free kick for out on the full. However, because he had not returned into play the ball was brought back to where he kicked it for a boundary throw-in. It was a strange rule anomaly that requires consideration post-season.

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