SUNS vice-captain Touk Miller is closing the gap to the top of the AFL Coaches’ Association AFL Champion Player Award after polling a perfect 10 votes in the win over Richmond on Thursday night.
Miller was clinical in the Round 16 victory, amassing 36 disposals, seven marks, seven tackles and nine clearances in a starring midfield role.
His 10 votes sees him climb to 66 overall for the season, trailing Ollie Wines (70), Clayton Oliver (71) and Marcus Bontempelli (76) with just seven rounds to go.
It’s the ninth consecutive week Miller has polled AFLCA votes, the longest current streak of any player in the AFL.
Ben Ainsworth was voted second-best player afield (alongside Richmond’s Tom Lynch), polling seven votes for his 20 disposals, eight marks and a goal.
Jack Lukosius had 782 metres gained from his 24 disposals to earn two votes alongside Charlie Ballard who had 12 intercept possessions and three contested marks.
Rounding out the votes were Ben King and Brandon Ellis who each polled one vote for their roles in the win.
The AFL Coaches Association’s AFL 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.
Round 16 AFLCA Votes – Gold Coast v Richmond
10 - Touk Miller (GCFC)
7 - Tom J Lynch (RICH)
7 - Ben Ainsworth (GCFC)
2 - Jack Lukosius (GCFC)
2 - Charlie Ballard (GCFC)
1 - Ben King (GCFC)
1 - Brandon Ellis (GCFC)
