SUNS young gun Touk Miller has enjoyed a phenomenal start to his AFL career.
After being selected by Gold Coast with pick No. 29 in the 2014 National Draft, Miller played all 22 games in his maiden campaign, averaging 17 disposals per game to finish sixth in the NAB AFL Rising Star voting.
Last season, the 20-year-old established himself as a bona-fide midfielder with an impressive finish to the year in which he averaged 28 disposals and six tackles per game across the final eight weeks.
Now entering his third season at the top level, the former Vic Metro captain has been voted into the SUNS’ leadership group, a huge achievement for a player with just 40 games of experience under his belt and a role Miller is looking forward to taking on.
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“Super exciting for myself I think, bit of a bright future in that regard and the fact that I was voted in by my peers is the best thing about it,” Miller told SUNS TV.
“Obviously means that the boys have my back and back my leadership which is fantastic, still lots to learn, still really young, like you said it’s my third year.
“Super excited to learn lots and feed of the older blokes and good role to be in but not going to change anything that I’m doing now.”
Miller will not only bring a fresh set of eyes to the leadership group, but will provide a voice for the club’s younger players, with whom he has built up a strong bond with during his time in South East Queensland.
“(I’m) still pretty young so I probably have a lot of the backing of the younger blokes and where they come from,” he said.
“I spend a lot of time with the EDP (Elite Development Program) group dealing with them and I think I will be able to bring that into the leadership group and share what they have to say at a higher level.”
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As for what the club’s leadership group is hoping to achieve in 2017, it’s a simple goal; to win back the respect of the AFL competition after a couple of years in the lower half of the ladder.
“I think the fact that we need to win the respect of the competition first as a whole is probably the main one,” Miller said.
“We’ve had a bit of a shaky start the last two years. I think the fact that happened probably puts us on the ropes this year and lot of eyes and lots of pressure but I think we can cope.
“We’re going to knuckle down and get the respect back of the competition and go from there.”