Gold Coast SUNS Vice-Captain Touk Miller has moved into equal second in the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player Award, tied with Bulldog Marcus Bontempelli, on 76 votes, three shy of Melbourne Demon, Clayton Oliver.
Miller received all ten votes from the coaches after a performance that saw him finish with 35 disposal’s, 14 tackles, eleven clearances and two goals.
Speaking after Sunday’s 1-point victory over the GWS GIANTS, Senior Coach Stuart Dew lauded the young midfielder.
“I feel like it’s press play every week about Touk,” Dew said.
“He’s just so consistent in the way that he approaches AFL Footy.
“He’s a leader. He's desperate and he loves this footy club.”
“I think the players feed off it, and importantly they're now starting to play alongside him, as opposed to waiting for Touk and that's a growth area for us as a club.”
Brandon Ellis worked tirelessly all afternoon, having one of his best games as SUN, notching up a game high 41 disposals, 17 of which were contested to earn five votes from the coaches.
Charlie Ballard received a single vote for his standout performance in the backline recording a clear game high nine intercept marks, three times more than the next best.
Chris Burgess was the other SUN to poll a single vote for his performance in the ruck against GIANT Shane Mumford.
The AFL Coaches Association Champion Player Award, is an award voted by the 18 coaching panels on a 5,4,3,2,1 basis after each home and away game, acknowledging outstanding effort by an individual player in a season
