Gold Coast’s Touk Miller relishes the heat of a QClash battle, that much is clear.

For the second time in his career, the midfielder was awarded the Marcus Ashcroft Medal for a best on ground performance against the Lions.

Miller was instrumental in the victory, not only restricting the output of Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko but also contributing offensively as well. 

He racked up 21 touches (11 contested) and seven clearances to highlight his importance to the SUNS’ midfield unit. 

In typical fashion, Miller was keen to down play his role on the night and instead focus on the efforts of his teammates to get the victory. 

“You can’t probably shy away from what’s a good individual effort, but in saying that I couldn’t be more happy with the team,” Miller told SUNS TV after the game. 

“I was playing a team role and I was probably lucky enough to snag it at the end,

“If the boys weren’t going as hard as they were we wouldn’t have got the W so it’s fantastic.”

The victory was an important one for Gold Coast, who were able to bounce back from a heavy defeat to West Coast last week.

It wasn’t the cleanest game of football, with both teams willing to scrap and fight to get the win.

Miller featured prominently in a number of key moments throughout, the biggest being his match-saving smother in the final minutes.

WATCH: RD5: The last 2 minutes
 

“A win’s a win, like the four points we couldn’t be happier, (it) puts us at three and two now which is really good setting us up for the season, 

“We couldn’t be happier even though it was a scrappy finish we still got a win. 

“It was super important, Brisbane are in the same boat as us, both had to bounce back and give it our all.

“So both coming off really tough losses, but we came out on top in this one so it’s fantastic.”