Touk Miller was just 15 when he experienced his first taste of senior football.

At an age where most aspiring footballers are playing in their own age group, the tenacious onballer was selected to play for Maribyrnong Park in Melbourne’s tough Essendon District Football League.

Under the guidance of former Collingwood and Fremantle small forward, Brodie Holland, Miller experienced the brutal reality of the man’s game when he was still in Year 10 at high school.

The new Gold Coast SUNS recruit revealed that the experience – a rarity for Victorian draftees given the nature of the under-18 TAC Cup competition – was a great stepping stone in his journey to the AFL.

“I was lucky enough to play for Maribyrnong Park seniors at the age of 15, Brodie Holland gave me a gig which was pretty good,” Miller told reporters during his first official press conference as a Gold Coast SUNS player.

“It was a bit rough, I’m not going to lie, when I first entered it, because senior footy especially in the local leagues is not clean footy. You cop a couple of whacks here and there.

“It was a really good stepping stone, especially growing up and playing at TAC level I probably wasn’t as scared of the bodies or it was a lot easier to take on people and be able to throw my body weight around. It has probably just moulded me more for now which is good.”

Despite several years of being a member of elite development squads, Miller admits it’s tough to prepare for the daily rigours of a pre-season campaign at an AFL club.

“I don’t think you can probably prepare yourself for AFL pre-season. Everyone tells you that you eat, sleep and train, and that’s all you do, and so far it’s already ticked those boxes,” Miller said.

“The excitement (of being drafted) is still there, I think it probably will be for the next week or so and then once we get closer to Christmas I reckon we’ll start to settle in and realize we’ve got a big pre-season ahead of us and a lot of boxes to tick.”