AFL

'Work through it': Saints coach to tagged star player

Mar 9, 2026

Star Saint Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera has been told to work through ways to break a hard tag. -AAP Image

St Kilda's ace Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera will have to work through ways to break a hard tag, his coach says.

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The AFL's first player on a $2 million-a-year contract was subjected to tight attention from Collingwood's Harry Perryman on Sunday night.

Perryman took the honours in the Magpies' 11.12 (78) to 9.12 (66) win at the MCG, gathering 22 disposals while restricting Wanganeen-Milera to 19 touches and a goal.

"Obviously, Nas had more of a go-with, a lockdown," Saints coach Ross Lyon said.

"I thought he started game really well, he jumped into the game really well ... and then I thought Nas worked through it.

"Nas didn't have his best night but he never gave up and kept working.

"And, you know, he's got to work through that phase."

Wanganeen-Milera will likely confront taggers in most games this season, though Collingwood coach Craig McRae wasn't taking the credit for putting Perryman on the brilliant Saint.

"The leadership group really pushed it - I'm not taking ownership for that," McRae said.

"The leaders really wanted to set a bit of a target and go after him.

"I went to Pez, and I won't share exactly what he said, but he was pretty excited about doing the job."

But McRae said Perryman couldn't have succeeded without help from his teammates.

"What maybe you do or don't understand in our game is, if you tag, it becomes a whole system that your whole team needs to be involved in," he said.

"Because he (Wanganeen-Milera) played forward, he played back, he played mid - and so you need to evolve.

"We wanted Pez to go all the way but that's chemistry ... and all those layers, and I'm proud of the group to support Pez in getting that job done.

"He (Wanganeen-Milera) is an outstanding player, that young man.

"And I don't think we will be the first or the last to tag him."

Lyon, in contrast, didn't deploy a hard tag on Collingwood champ Nick Daicos, who collected a game-high 41 disposals and a likely three Brownlow medal votes.

"Should we attack Daicos? We try and display a bit more system," Lyon said.

"Maybe, yeah, in hindsight - he had 41. But momentum, it's interesting - we did send someone to him for a little bit.

"I don't think that's why, whether it be Nas or Daicos, why they got the points and we didn't.

"I thought it was more the overall letting them off ... we were inefficient. They took their chances and we didn't it."