In 2015, Touk Miller established himself as a key pillar in Gold Coast’s future, compiling a stunning debut campaign that saw the former Vic Metro captain finish fourth in the club’s best and fairest.
After a slow start in 2016, with ankle injuries plaguing him early in the season, Miller found his groove after being thrust back into a full-time midfield role.
The turning point of his season came in round 16 against Brisbane when the 20-year-old took best afield honours to claim the Marcus Ashcroft Medal with 27 disposals and 11 tackles against the Lions.
From there Miller never looked back with a series of ultra-consistent performances including 28 touches against Fremantle and a career-high 39 disposals in the loss to Essendon, easily his team’s best player on the day.
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The Calder Cannons product finished his year with 32 possessions against Collingwood and 28 against Port Adelaide as he cemented himself as a genuine midfielder in the absence of many of the club’s prime movers.
Miller’s last eight games of 2016 drew averages of 27.9 disposals per game (12.9 contested) to go with 5 clearances, 6.3 tackles and 4.1 inside 50s.
Truly elite midfield numbers, but you can rest assured that Miller will be looking to build on those further in 2017.
“He obviously started half forward for us and was doing that role really well. Hurt his ankle, probably tried to push on through that too much and that affected his form for two or three weeks,” assistant coach Matthew Primus told goldcoastfc.com.au.
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“Then he got his opportunity in the midfield and as Rocket mentioned in the back half of the year, became a real bona fide midfielder. He certainly set a platform up for him to become one of our midfielders and one of our stock-standard midfielders in there playing week in, week out.
“We think he’s got the attributes to do it. He’s really hard at the contest, he works hard forward, he works hard going back to support our defence and he’s just got an appetite to soak up information.
“His last five or six games were really at an elite level for a midfielder so a really good springboard. Had a little op on his ankle but that’ll be cleared up and he’ll be ready to attack pre-season.”
