Over the past two seasons, Touk Miller has been among the top points-scoring players across AFLFantasy/DreamTeam & SuperCoach. Does he continue on this stretch of scoring where he’s among the best options available? Or does the next generation of Suns start to impact his ceiling?
PLAYER PROFILE
Name: Touk Miller
Age: 26
Club: Gold Coast Suns
Position: Midfield
2022 Highest Score:
147 Vs Melbourne (AFLFantasy)
167 Vs North Melbourne (SuperCoach)
Career Highest Score:
160 Vs Hawthorn | AFLFantasy (2021)
167 Vs North Melbourne | SuperCoach (2022)
2022 Average:
109.8 (AFLFantasy)
120.3 (SuperCoach)
SuperCoach Price: $662,400
AFLFantasy Price: $972,000
AFLDreamTeam Price: $996,900
WHY IS HE RELEVANT?
For the past three seasons, Touk Miller has been a premium midfielder. Over the past two, he’s won the club best & fairest and been among the top handful of averaging midfielders in SuperCoach, AFLFantasy & DreamTeam.
It was another strong season across the majority of all stats lines. He ranked second in the league for clearances and stoppage clearances per game. Fourth for contested possessions and top ten for inside 50s and centre clearances.
2022 was a season where for some coaches in the community, Touk created an element of frustration. Not because he was bad, but because there was an element of regression in his 2021 season scoring and averages. Despite this, he ended the 2022 season as the fourth-highest scorer for points in AFLFantasy/DreamTeam and third for SuperCoach. So any ‘frustration’ towards him is very much overblown.
Last year in AFLFantasy/DreamTeam, he averaged 109.8, which consisted of fifteen tons and nine scores over 120. They include 132, 133, 134, 140 & 147. Alongside this are three additional scores of 90+, and only once last season did he drop his scoring below 80. As a result, he ended the season with the seventh-best average in the entire format. And speaking of ending the season over the final ten games, he went at an average of 112.
For SuperCoach, he scored eighteen tons across the season. Eleven of those were above 120, and nine were above 130. His five highest scores were 153, 153, 157, 160 & 167. He had two additional scores over 90, and his scoring fell below 98 in just two matches. He ended the year with a ten-game average of 123.6 and has the fourth-highest average.
In 2021, the potential of Touk was fulfilled. He ranked first by average in AFLFantasy/DreamTeam and third for total points. Good for a guy that missed a match. He scored seventeen tons; thirteen were above 120, while a monster six were over 140. His season in SuperCoach was arguably even better. He scored eighteen tons from his twenty-one matches; an insane thirteen were above 120, ten over 130 and seven scores of 140+. He was one of the most dependable VC/C options in 2021. He had sixteen consecutive tons to end the year and was ranked sixth for total points. Only Jack Macrae and Jack Steele had higher averages than Touk in 2021.
For two consecutive seasons, Miller has given us dependable captaincy output. But it’s not just his frequency of big tons and his strong basement. In addition, he’s been highly durable. He played every game last year and has missed just one match across the previous three seasons.
Embed from Getty ImagesMY TAKE
When these two worlds collide, you know it’s a good thing. Finally, a footballer you love to watch combines with high AFLFantasy, SuperCoach & Dreamteam pedigree. That’s exactly what Touk Miller is to me. He’s fun to watch because, almost without fail, he does the right thing for his team.
Miller has a superpower. No, it’s not his tackling, disposal efficiency, or goal-kicking. He can do those things, but his superpower is the key to unlocking his fantasy scoring and breaking tags should they come. Workrate. Through sheer gut running, endurance and fitness, Touk gets from contest to contest to contest. And whether he wins the ball through a clearance, gets into open space for an uncontested touch, or applies pressure through a tackle, he gets himself to every contest. Last year he spent 87% time on the ground, and given he’s right in his prime, don’t expect that number to slide away anytime soon.
One thing I’m interested to see over the preseason is to see how the Suns will structure up through the midfield. Last year they ran a super tight centre bounce crew. Alongside Touk (81%) were Jarrod Witts (85%), Noah Anderson (71%), Matt Rowell (80%) and David Swallow (31%). After this unit, the next most regular at CBAs was Alex Davies, who averaged 23% over the year. Does this mix hold? Will Sam Flanders or Elijah Hollands get some opportunities? Or will we see cash cow Bailey Humphries roll through? Either way, Touk’s role won’t change, but should the other Suns start elevating themselves, we might see a small dip in his ceiling output.
We’ve got two significant fixture changes for 2023. The first is an additional round; the year is now made up of 24. The other is that the bye rounds are split over four, not three weeks. What’s significant about this is that DreamTeam and SuperCoach have decided to treat all four weeks of byes as the best’ 18’ scorers, and round thirteen has just the Gold Coast Suns and Geelong Cats with the week off.
Finding 18 players to field in round 13 will be simple. The others can be challenging. Being able to bank a premium midfielder like Miller could become extremely valuable. He becomes the constant theme in your backline during the other three bye rounds as you make upgrades and team benchings. And it’s not just selecting a bye runner; it’s using the byes as potentially a deal breaker if you can’t split the difference between Miller and another premium. Remember, he’s not just any premium midfielder; he’s a captaincy candidate. As a matter of reference, Gold Coast plays Adelaide, Carlton and Hawthorn during those three weeks.
The question isn’t will you own Touk Miller? But rather when! For the 30% of DreamTeam, 23% of AFLFantasy & 36% of coaches currently owning him, they’re hoping he starts the season the way he ended 2022. However, those targeting as an upgrade will pray for a few early tags to come his way.
DRAFT DECISION
Touk Miller will head off draft boards as one of the first midfielders selected. However, where goes will largely depend on how people view the top forward premiums. I suspect he’ll go inside the later first round and into the early second across most drafts.
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