cannot get @ModelAttribute to work

[koryakm]

I am trying to use the model attribute annotation to populate the "nav" variable with my navigation data for use on the jsp.
I am using tiles 2 for my views, by the way, if that makes any difference.

my attribute "nav" cannot be found on the jsp, even though looking at the log file, i can see that the method getNavigation() is called.

@Controller
public class ItemController {
	@Autowired
    private ItemManager itemManager;
    
    @Autowired
    private NavigationManager navigationManager;
    
    @Autowired
    private MediaUtils mediaUtil;

    private final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(ItemController.class);

    private static final int PROMO_SIZE = 4; //how big are the promotions, how many items do they include?

    
    @ModelAttribute("nav")
//this DOES NOT APPEAR on my JSP!!
    public List<Navigation> getNavigation(){
    	log.debug("returning moddel attribute: "+this.navigationManager.getNavigationByGroupName("main"));
    	return this.navigationManager.getNavigationByGroupName("main");
    }
   
  
    

    /**
     *  Maps all nav level 2 requests
     */
    @RequestMapping("/*/*.*")
    public ModelAndView handleSubCategoryRequest(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
		String path = request.getServletPath();
		int idx=path.lastIndexOf("/");
		String navUrl = path.substring(0,idx);
		String itemSeoName = path.substring(idx+1, path.length() - 5);
		
		Navigation selectedNav = navigationManager.getNavigationByURL(navUrl);
		
		ModelAndView mav = new ModelAndView("error.404");
		
		log.debug("(detail) nav url:"+navUrl+" nav:"+selectedNav);
		log.debug("(detail) item seo name:"+itemSeoName);
		

		
		if(selectedNav == null){
			mav.setViewName("error.404");
		} else if(selectedNav.getNavName().equals("item") && !processItemDetailRequest(selectedNav, mav, itemSeoName)){
			//this is a weird if block: if we have an item request, and fail to process it, fail, 
			//otherwise the request is already set up correctly!
			mav.setViewName("error.404");
		} 
					
		mav.addObject("selectedNav", selectedNav);
//		mav.addObject("nav", this.navigationManager.getNavigation());
		log.debug("finished detail request returning modelandview: "+mav);
	    return mav;  //at this point its error.404         
    }

   




}