St Kilda v Melbourne (2025 AFL season)

2025 AFL Round 20
St Kilda Melbourne 15.6 (96) 13.12 (90)
1 2 3 4 STK 2.1 (13) 4.4 (28) 6.4 (40) 15.6 (96) MEL 6.2 (38) 9.4 (58) 13.8 (86) 13.12 (90)
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

See also: 2025 AFL season

Teams

St. Kilda

Melbourne

St Kilda B: 26. Alix Tauru 44. Callum Wilkie 47. Anthony Caminiti HB: 14. Liam Stocker 7. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera 35. Jack Sinclair C: 2. Marcus Windhager 6. Jack Macrae 27. Arie Schoenmaker HF: 8. Bradley Hill 40. Max Hall 1. Jack Higgins F: 10. Mitch Owens 32. Mason Wood 43. Cooper Sharman Foll: 19. Rowan Marshall 11. Hunter Clark 9. Jack Steele (c) Int: 3. Zak Jones 4. Lance Collard 13. Ryan Byrnes 24. Angus Hastie 38. Hugh Boxshall (substitute) Coach: Ross Lyon

Melbourne B: 17. Jake Bowey 25. Tom McDonald 4. Judd McVee HB: 6. Caleb Windsor 10. Daniel Turner 22. Blake Howes C: 37. Kade Chandler 5. Christian Petracca 19. Harvey Langford HF: 7. Jack Viney 31. Bayley Fritsch 20. Xavier Lindsay F: 18. Jake Melksham 35. Harrison Petty 36. Kysaiah Pickett Foll: 11. Max Gawn (c) 24. Trent Rivers 15. Ed Langdon Int: 3. Christian Salem 13. Clayton Oliver 32. Tom Sparrow 2. Jacob van Rooyen 9. Charlie Spargo (substitute) Coach: Simon Goodwin

Match summary

First quarter

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

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

Four goals to two saw Melbourne extend their lead to 46 points at three-quarter-time.

Fourth quarter

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera's two goals in the final ten seconds of the match won the game for St Kilda.

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

	Round 20, 2025
Sunday, 27 July (3:15 pm)	St Kilda	def.	Melbourne	Marvel Stadium (crowd: 22,570)	Report Stats
	2.1 (13) 4.4 (28) 6.4 (40) 15.6 (96)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	6.2 (38) 9.4 (58) 13.8 (86) 13.12 (90)	Umpires: Jeff Dalgleish, Nick Brown, Martin Rodger, James Strybos
Higgins 4, Wanganeen-Milera 4, Sharman 2, Caminiti, Hill, Steele, Tauru, Wood		Goals	Fritsch 3, Lindsay 2, Melksham 2, Chandler, Langford, Petracca, Pickett, Viney
Wanganeen-Milera, Sinclair, Hall, Higgins, Macrae		Best	Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Rivers, Fritsch

Aftermath and legacy

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]

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. ^[6] 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; ^[7] while Viney's 16 tackles for the match was a club record, ^[8] the final votes drew criticism across the industry. ^{[9] [10]}

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. ^[11]

See also

• Essendon v Kangaroos (2001 AFL season)
• Miracle on Grass (Australian rules football)
• Greater Western Sydney v Brisbane Lions (2024 AFL semi-final)

References

1. 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.
2. Bastiani, Gemma (27 July 2025). "St Kilda complete biggest comeback in V/AFL history". St Kilda Football Club. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
3. Gemma Bastiani (27 July 2025). "Saints produce biggest comeback EVER to sink Dees after the siren". Australian Football League. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
4. 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.
5. Riley Beveridge (5 August 2025). "Goodwin out as Demons coach after horror season". afl.com.au.
6. "Nasiah the Saint". St Kilda Football Club. 18 August 2025. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
7. 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.
8. "Melbourne - Season and Game Records (1965-2025)". AFL Tables. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
9. "'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.
10. 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.
11. 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

• Match statistics on AFL Tables
• Last two minutes on YouTube