BARRETT: The high-level stoush fuelling the very real Saints-Lions rivalry

IT STARTED as a battle based on philosophy. Then it got personal.

Its origins were measured – a standoff over one club's access to elite talent via the father-son rule and a northern state Academy against the other club's use of millions of dollars to recruit rival and retain listed players.

Then it became coach versus coach. A CEO got involved. Now it's chairman versus president.

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Away from the very public argy-bargy, AFL.com.au has learnt that the bosses of both clubs, Saints president Andrew Bassat and Lions chair Andrew Wellington, were also going at it.

There is a respect between the two, but on this player payments versus player Academy/father-son debate, they will always, dogmatically, agree to disagree. These highly successful businessmen have been exchanging very provocative thoughts on the matter, including Bassat's that Wellington should admonish Fagan for his comments on Wanganeen-Milera and De Koning.

Naturally, that was not acted on by Wellington. As well as privately scoffed at.

Wellington and Bassat both declined to comment when contacted by AFL.com.au this week.

Which leaves everyone now fully focused on Marvel Stadium, at the unusually early match start time of 12.35pm AEDT. Premiership proud Brisbane, off a 0-2 start to the 2026 season, flies into Melbourne to play the proudly getting-under-the-skin premiership wannabes St Kilda, which last weekend nervously got a first win in 2026 after an ordinary 0-2 start.

The players of these clubs are yet to have a say since this rivalry erupted and now they get to play the real game, a match of football. The scoreboard is still the true determinant of all genuine rivalries.

The subject of a lot of the off-season, off-field heat, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, the man being given $2 million to play for the Saints in each of the 2026 and 2027 seasons, looms as the central figure in the next bout between these warring organisations.

Wanganeen-Milera's wage, according to Lions coach Chris Fagan in a comment which catapulted this rivalry into seriously combative zones, and which was widely supported by many senior football industry people, was a "danger to the game".

Should Nas dominate and lead the Saints to a win, it will be 1-0 St Kilda, Ross Lyon and Andrew Bassat. Fagan knows that. His bid to nullify Wanganeen-Milera will revolve around Jarrod Berry or Josh Dunkley, maybe both. Dunkley is the man Fagan has previously told AFL.com.au is "the player most like Luke Hodge I have come across". Dunkley may just demand the role which will ultimately shape the result of this match.

Fagan's observations on Wanganeen-Milera and $1.7 million-a-year recruit Tom De Koning ("(he has) shown a lot of promise for a long time but hasn't probably played up to expectations") angered the Saints. Within hours of those beliefs being published, St Kilda chief executive Carl Dilena publicly retorted.

"I can understand fears about having to pay fair value for players, I appreciate it's a novel concept for some people … the reality is, the danger arises from a system that distorts access to talent, not in amounts paid to players, which must sit in a cap," Dilena said.

Lyon publicly bought in, too, wondering if Fagan was "weaponising" the media. All of it provided compelling media.

As is often the case in nuanced football debates, both parties can be right. St Kilda is right to highlight Brisbane's "national draft pick-cheap" access to father-son and Academy players Will and Levi Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher, Harris Andrews and Dan Annable. Brisbane is right to bring to the public concerns over an artificially inflated player market, after the Saints retained Wanganeen-Milera on massive money, and added De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Liam Ryan and Sam Flanders on huge deals.

The off-season, off-field Brisbane-St Kilda stoush has been captivating, but it probably ended in a draw. And now the talking has been paused. These two clubs, run by ultra-smart businessmen, know that words and strategy are worthless without wins on a Saturday.

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