Nasiah Milera-Wanganeen first love before football was traditional Aboriginal art.

The rising St Kilda star's fondest memories growing up was staying with the grandparents.

"As a little kid, I used to watch my pop doing paintings in the backyard," he said.

"I used to wake up early in the morning and he'd be out in the shed doing these big artworks.

"He'd end up going and selling them all."

When the Saints' board asked the quietly-spoken Narungga and Kokatha man to design the 2025 Indigenous guernsey of the Boon Wurrung-named, Euro-Yroke, the thought reignited the lifetime passion.

Wanganeen-Milera had put the canvas aside for a while, but a life-defining moment stopped the budding star in his tracks last year and motivated a return to the art of his strong cultural upbringing.

"Pop passed away last year, so (in his memory) I thought I'd pick it up because I had looked up to him," he said.

"So, it feels pretty special to paint this."

The son of former St Kilda forward Terry Milera, a nephew of Brownlow Medalist, Gavin Wanganeen, and the distant cousin Adelaide's Wayne Milera, the family artist is proving that the talent runs far deeper than football.

"I'm pretty lucky to be in a family like this with a lot of footballers too," he said.

"But mum and dad, my aunties and uncles, all did a fair bit of painting as well.

"They have all helped me along the way, giving me tips and advice. I can't thank them enough all that they've done for me."

The dashing half-back is out of contract and rumours have all but been confirmed that Adelaide and Port Adelaide have interest in luring Wanganeen-Milera back onto Kaurna Country, but the shared passion within one of the largest "brotherhoods" in an AFL club just may well keep Wanganeen-Milera at St Kilda past free agency in another four years.

"Obviously us Indigenous boys there, we pretty much hang out with one another," Wanganeen-Milera said.

"We have a couple of dinners with each other every now and then, and I usually go around to their houses and stuff a lot, and Hilly brings us around for dinner as he's like the big brother to all of us.

"He's definitely been a big brother to me and showed me the ropes.

"The club with a lot of Indigenous blokes make it a whole lot easier. It's special to be a part of this group – it's just a good group of brother boys to be around."

Milera-Wanganeen points off to the top centre of the guernsey design and intricately explains that the eight symbols picture that surrounds circles represents this year's brotherhood.

Bradley Hill, Liam Henry, Marcus Windhager, Isaac Keeler, Lance Collard and Wanganeen-Milera in addition to AFLW players J'Noemi Anderson and Natalie Plane are recorded for posterity – as is St Kilda's previous 32 Aboriginal names that date back to Jim Wandin in 1952.

The other design elements feature a gathering of symbols that represent each of his two tribes, his community and his family, and also Wanganeen-Miler's St Kilda's home at Moorabbin.

The surrounding motifs signify the Indigenous players of the club, Wanganeen-Milera's wedge-tailed eagle totem for the Kokatha people and a kangaroo totem on his Narungga side, while footprints that are displayed tells of his own personal journey.

"I sort of went back home in the offseason, and I spoke to mum and dad about a lot of those drawings on bits of paper," Wanganeen-Milera said.