Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s miracle game against Melbourne only worth two Brownlow Medal votes from AFL umpires

There were guffaws of laughter across all the Brownlow Medal tables after the votes of the famous game between Melbourne and St Kilda were called out on Monday night.

The Round 20 game has been written into AFL folklore, for it is the one when Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera produced an AFL miracle and dragged his team to victory after they were down by a whopping 46 points at three-quarter time.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera misses three votes in miracle game.

Wanganeen-Milera did it all. He took a huge mark with less than a minute on the clock to kick an equalising goal and then, moments later, after a 6-6-6 blunder by Melbourne, he produced a set play for the ages and kicked the match-winner.

He finished the game with 34 disposals, four goals, and was the toast of St Kilda, if not the AFL world.

Both the four goals and the 34 touches were game highs but, despite all his brilliance, the umpires only awarded him two votes.

When Melbourne’s Jack Viney was awarded the three, it suddenly dawned upon the room what had just happened.

The umpires had considered Viney’s solid 23 disposals and 16 tackle game (and yes, 16 tackles is an extraordinary effort) the best afield, overlooking Wanganeen-Milera’s match-winning performance.

Laughter suddenly spread across the tables..

St Kilda captain Jack Steele put his hand over his face to hide his bewilderment, and Wanganeen-Milera just grinned.

Even the Melbourne players couldn’t contain themselves, with captain Max Gawn and superstar Christian Petracca almost hysterical.

The very next round Wanganeen-Milera was awarded the three and bronx cheers were heard across the room.

7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary said the “biggest news” of the night outside of Matt Rowell’s incredible Brownlow win was the umpires’ three vote “snubbing” of Wanganeen-Milera.

“I think this is the biggest talking point outside of Rowell from the night,” Cleary said.

“He had 34 disposals, kicked four goals, including the two match-winners late in the game and Jack Viney pipped him with 16 tackles and 23 disposals.

“This is one of the great all-time games. I think people at home are scratching their heads.

“He was huge for the entire game, not just the last two minutes.”

Needless to stay, fans exploded on social media with rival club the GWS Giants leading the way.

“Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera not getting three votes is crazy work,” the Giants social team said.

Melbourne’s social team also joined the fun, posting a picture of Jack Viney celebrating a goal, with the caption: “Viney kicks the winner .. THREE VOTES.”

They added: “VINEY AFTER THE SIREN 🚨 Great memories of that time we beat the Saints and definitely nothing bad happened and we all went home happy 🙂😅.”

Veteran sports journalist Mark Gottlieb said Wanganeen-Milera not getting three votes in the Melbourne game “should be the end of umpires voting for the Brownlow Medal”.

That sentiment was echoed across social media.

“If Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera wasn’t best on ground against Melbourne in round 20, we can’t have the umpires doing Brownlow votes anymore,” one fan said.

And another: “Probably one of the only games for the season it would have been impossible the umps to get it wrong ... but here we are.”

And another: “Take the votes off the umpires now!”

And another: “Max Gawn wetting himself sums it up.”

And another: “I sat with a Melbourne supporting aunty and even she was in awe of NWM that day!”

Wanganeen-Milera finished the count in joint ninth position with 23 votes, equal to Gawn.

He polled votes in four out of the last five games but, outside of one round, he did it in twos.

In fact, he only managed three three votes for the evening, the first coming in Round 12.

Up until then he had four one votes, and one two.