St Kilda v Melbourne (2025 AFL season)
| 2025 AFL Round 20 | |||||||||||||||
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| Date | Sunday, 27 July (3:15 pm) | ||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Marvel Stadium | ||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 22,570 | ||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Jeff Dalgleish, Nick Brown, Martin Rodger, James Strybos | ||||||||||||||
| Accolades | |||||||||||||||
| Best on Ground | Jack Viney | ||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | |||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network, Fox Footy | ||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Seven Network: Alister Nicholson, Jason Bennett Fox Footy: Dwayne Russell, Kelli Underwood[1] |
In round 20, 2025, an Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away match was played between St Kilda and Melbourne at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on 27 July 2025.
Both sides were in the bottom six (Melbourne in 13th, and St Kilda in 15th) going into this match. St Kilda won the match by six points after trailing by 46 points at three-quarter-time, with Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera kicking the match-winning goal after the final siren to complete the biggest comeback from a three-quarter-time deficit in VFL/AFL history.[2][3]
Background
[edit]Teams
[edit]      St. Kilda
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 Melbourne
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Match summary
[edit]First quarter
[edit]Anthony Caminiti kicked the first goal of the match for St Kilda after one minute of play, but Melbourne would kick six of the next seven goals to lead by 25 points at quarter-time, with Bayley Fritsch kicking three goals for the Demons.
Second quarter
[edit]Melbourne extended its quarter-time lead, kicking three of the five goals in the second quarter to lead by 30 points at half-time. St Kilda player Lance Collard was substituted out of the match due to a foot injury he suffered in the first quarter, and was replaced by Hugh Boxshall.[4]
Third quarter
[edit]Four goals to two saw Melbourne extend their lead to 46 points at three-quarter-time.
Fourth quarter
[edit]
St Kilda began to dominate the centre clearances, and kicked seven consecutive goals to reduce the deficit to just six points with only two minutes left on the clock.
With less than ten seconds remaining, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera kicked the final two goals of the game, the first from a set shot with eight seconds remaining to level scores after taking a spectacular mark inside forward 50, and the second after Melbourne made a 6–6–6 rule infringement at the following centre bounce, with Wanganeen-Milera marking the resultant free kick and kicking the winning goal after the final siren.[4]
In the final quarter alone, St Kilda kicked 9.2 (56) to 0.4 (4) to complete the comeback; it eclipsed the Brisbane Bears' comeback from a 45-point three-quarter-time deficit to defeat Hawthorn in round 16, 1995. The win ended a six-game losing streak for St Kilda, whose last win was also against Melbourne in round 12.[4]
Final scores
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Aftermath and legacy
[edit]Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin was sacked over one week following the match, after the club was eliminated from finals contention for a second consecutive season. As of 2025[update], it has not won a final since winning the 2021 premiership.[5] Melbourne president Brad Green, however, said the decision to sack Goodwin had nothing to do with the six-point loss to the Saints; but rather, a "four or five week" process.[6][7]
In the weeks following the match, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera re-signed with St Kilda for a further two seasons; he had come out of contract at the conclusion of the 2025 AFL season and had attracted plenty of interest from his native South Australia.[8] Despite his match-winning efforts, Wanganeen-Milera received only two Brownlow Medal votes for the match, with Jack Viney receiving the maximum three votes and Christian Petracca receiving one vote;[9] while Viney's 16 tackles for the match was a club record,[10] the final votes drew much surprise and amusement from those present at the count,[9] followed by criticism across the industry.[11][12]
In a poll run by the AFL website in December 2025, the match was voted by the public as the best match of the 2025 season with more than 58 per cent of the vote.[13]
See also
[edit]- Essendon v Kangaroos (2001 AFL season)
- Brisbane Lions v Geelong (2013 AFL season)
- Greater Western Sydney v Brisbane Lions (2024 AFL semi-final)
References
[edit]- ^ Cotton, Ben (28 July 2025). "'That is brilliant': Genius AFL tactic sets up star's match-winning goal in WILD ending". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
- ^ Bastiani, Gemma (27 July 2025). "St Kilda complete biggest comeback in V/AFL history". St Kilda Football Club. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ Gemma Bastiani (27 July 2025). "Saints produce biggest comeback EVER to sink Dees after the siren". Australian Football League. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
- ^ a b c De Silva, Chris; Hanson, Henry (27 July 2025). "Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera's heroics help St Kilda record greatest final quarter comeback in VFL/AFL history". AAP. ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 30 December 2025.
- ^ Riley Beveridge (5 August 2025). "Goodwin out as Demons coach after horror season". afl.com.au.
- ^ Cotton, Ben (5 August 2025). "'Bloody Nasiah': Goodwin's hilarious blame game as axed coach gives cheeky parting shots". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
- ^ Sutton, Ben (5 August 2025). "Sacked Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin responds to burning question with two-word joke at final media conference". Seven News. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
- ^ "Nasiah the Saint". St Kilda Football Club. 18 August 2025. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ a b Noakes, Cameron (22 September 2025). "Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera's miracle game against Melbourne only worth two Brownlow Medal votes from AFL umpires". Seven News. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
- ^ "Melbourne - Season and Game Records (1965-2025)". AFL Tables. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ "'Go home umps. You're drunk!' Star robbed of most obvious three votes in all-time Brownlow blunder". foxsports.com.au. Fox Footy. 23 September 2025.
- ^ Swan, Dane (22 September 2025). ""Worst decision in the history of the Brownlow": NAS robbed". 1116 SEN.
What a joke that is. It's got a big smell about it.
- ^ Smith, Martin (9 December 2025). "The results are in: Which game did YOU vote as best of 2025?". Australian Football League. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
External links
[edit]- Match statistics on AFL Tables
- Last two minutes on YouTube