Touk Miller (, rhymes with "Luke"; born 22 February 1996) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). Miller plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and was drafted to the Suns as the 29th overall pick in the

2014 AFL draft The 2014 AFL draft consists of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2014 AFL season. Additions to each club's playing list are not allowed ...

Early life

Miller was born in Melbourne to an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

father and an Australian mother of Jamaican and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

descent. His father, Wylie, is an Ohio-born frontman-singer in the legendary soul band, Grand WaZoo, and a bass guitar soloist, and his mother, Ruth, is a veteran marathon runner and triathlete. Touk started high school in the selective sports academy at

Maribyrnong College Maribyrnong College, also known as Maribyrnong Secondary College, and formerly known as Maribyrnong High School, is a government-funded secondary day school that specialises in sports, located in Maribyrnong in the inner western suburbs of Me ...

. He then accepted a scholarship to St Kevin's College for both his football and cricket talents. Miller was selected to represent the under 15 Victorian state cricket team at the national championships in March 2011 and made his first XI debut for the

North Melbourne Cricket Club Greenvale Cricket Club is an Australian cricket team competing in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition. The club began as the North Melbourne Cricket Club, and was one of the inaugural Victorian district cricket clubs in 1906/07. It played ...

at the

Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Junc ...

in December 2011 before electing to focus on football the following year.

Junior career

Miller played all of his junior years with the Maribyrnong Park Lions in the

Essendon District Football League The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition c ...

and made his senior debut for the club in 2011 at the age of 15. He played junior football for both St Kevin's College in the APS football competition and the

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

. He also captained both the Cannons and the Vic Metro Under 18 team in the 2014 AFL Under 18 Championships.

AFL career

Miller made his debut for the Suns in round 1 of the 2015 season. Miller earned a rising star nomination in round 16 of that year where he had 27 disposals and two goals against the

Greater Western Sydney Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents the ...

. In May of 2015, Touk re-signed to the Suns, keeping him contracted to the club until 2017. Miller was promoted to the Gold Coast vice-captaincy at the beginning of 2019. He played his 100th AFL game in Round 23 against Greater Western Sydney. Despite missing several matches through injury, Miller finished 6th in Gold Coast's 2019 best and fairest count. In May 2021, Miller was handed a one-match ban for rough conduct against St Kilda player

Nick Coffield Nicholas John Coffield (born 23 October 1999) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by St Kilda with their second selection and eighth overall ...

. At the end of the 2021 season, Miller was in the All-Australian team and won the Gold Coast Suns best and fairest Miller was appointed Gold Coast co-captain for the 2022 season. Following the 2022 AFL season, Miller was named All Australian, Gold Coast's Club Champion and the AFLCA MVP.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of 2022''. , - , scope=row ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, , , , 44 , 22 , , 7 , , 8 , , 184 , , 190 , , 374 , , 51 , , 111 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 8.4 , , 8.6 , , 17.0 , , 2.3 , , 5.1 , , 0 , - , scope=row ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, , , , 11 , 18 , , 4 , , 6 , , 174 , , 211 , , 385 , , 51 , , 88 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 9.7 , , 11.7 , , 21.4 , , 2.8 , , 4.9 , , 2 , - , scope=row ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , , , 11 , 20 , , 7 , , 6 , , 135 , , 282 , , 417 , , 67 , , 90 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 6.8 , , 14.1 , , 20.9 , , 3.4 , , 4.5 , , 0 , - , scope=row ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , , , 11 , 22 , , 6 , , 7 , , 198 , , 287 , , 485 , , 77 , , 123 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 9.0 , , 13.1 , , 22.1 , , 3.5 , , 5.6 , , 4 , - , scope=row ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , , 11 , 18 , , 4 , , 3 , , 183 , , 219 , , 402 , , 81 , , 103 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 10.2 , , 12.2 , , 22.3 , , 4.5 , , 5.7 , , 5 , - , scope=row ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, , , , 11 , 17 , , 3 , , 4 , , 117 , , 163 , , 340 , , 50 , , 88 , , 0.2, , 0.2 , , 10.4 , , 9.6 , , 20.0 , , 2.9 , , 5.2 , , 3 , - , scope=row ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, , , , 11 , 21 , , 8 , , 8 , , 334 , , 334 , , 668 , , 95 , , 149 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 15.9 , , 15.9 , , 31.8 , , 4.4 , , 7.1 , , 17 , - , scope=row ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, , , , 11 , 22 , , 8 , , 11 , , 373 , , 253 , , 626 , , 83 , , 133 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 17.0 , , 11.5 , , 28.5 , , 3.8 , , 6.0 , , 27 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 160 !! 47 !! 53 !! 1758 !! 1939 !! 3697 !! 555 !! 885 !! 0.3 !! 0.3 !! 11.0 !! 12.1 !! 23.1 !! 3.5 !! 5.5 !! 58 Notes

Honours and achievements

Individual * AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Award: 2022 *

Gold Coast Suns Club Champion The Gold Coast Suns Club Champion is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Gold Coast Football Club throughout the Australian Football League (AFL) season. The voting system, as ...

: 2021 * 2×

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

* Gold Coast captain: 2022– * 3×

Marcus Ashcroft Medal The Marcus Ashcroft Medal is awarded to the player judged best on ground in the QClash football match played between Brisbane and Gold Coast. It is named after former footballer Marcus Ashcroft, who played junior football on the Gold Coast for ...

: 2016, 2018, 2022 * AFL Rising Star nominee: 2015 (round 16) * Scoops Medal 2022 (32 votes)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Touk 1996 births Living people Gold Coast Football Club players Calder Cannons players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian people of African-American descent Australian people of English descent Australian people of Jamaican descent People educated at St Kevin's College, Melbourne