Player Watch #12 Ben Miller

[db26]

Unfair criticism here he had a great start to the season and went off last 10 games I agree. Plenty to work with. People forget the ball was in defence so much and was a ping pong at times coming in the dam finally breaks even if you have the best defence

 

[Danog]

Was one of our most improved in the first half of season. Not sure what happened after mid-year break.

 

[thegcat]

Unfair criticism here he had a great start to the season and went off last 10 games I agree. Plenty to work with. People forget the ball was in defence so much and was a ping pong at times coming in the dam finally breaks even if you have the best defence

He was utterly abysmal in the 2nd half of the year. A can of Spam like abysmal

 

[THE_GUN]

It takes more than 23 players to win a flag

your players rated 25-35 are extremely important

 

[sanaya]

numbers are numbers, miller has played fine enough and if he's shit then armstrong or faull can just wait a year or two and #12 should be free - no rush


on the other hand what has maurice rioli jnr done to show he's worth the famous #17? be the son of a much better player who played enough games to qualify for father-son? oh, okay, as long as we recognise we're giving out numbers to players for reasons NOT related to performance i don't care about miller getting 12

 

[Moppey]

Astbury had an injury interrupted early period in his carrier. Miller is a spud. Emergency depth only and should never have been given that number.

Yep he had a heap of injuries after his first season.
But injuries aside by the end of 2016 we were quite happy to let him go to Brisbane if he wanted to.
He chose to stay and the rest is history.

Miller reminds me a bit of Liam Jones. Jones really struggled as a forward left the dogs went to Carlton and sort of played back as a last resort. But it wasn't just the fact he went into defense it was also a bit of something finally clicking for him and it happened at around the age Miller is now.

There,s two examples of forwards ending up back and actually clicking at around age 25 there are plenty of others.
Definately a make or go home year for Miller. If he can find that bit of mongrel he needs who knows.
I think another part of his problem is he has had to battle hard to just get games and instead of being decisive with decisions he is worried about making mistakes and is getting caught out too often not doing one thing or the other..

If i was at another club and needed a tall defender Miller is one id probably give a chance to mainly because of his athletic traits. Where as someone like Young i just dont rate just very limited.
Blight we are going to find out about i think he is limited to playing on certain types only but who knows.

The three of them will be superfluous to needs if Trainor Gibcus and Balta reach their potential they just wont get a look in.What they offer atm is reasonable cover and mature bodies.

Trade currency is what we want from them. Hope They show enough to warrant a club wanting them, they get a game and we get a reasonable bit of currency back in return.

 

[Danog]

His biggest weakness for mine is that he gives up on the contest after the marking contest is done. He needs to keep focused and give the 2nd and 3rd efforts. Shit, I'd take just a 2nd effort for now.

 

[lizard man]

I’m fascinated to see how he goes …. First half of the year was good but second half was dog poo. I’ll be keeping a close eye on him

 

[Meteoric Rise]

His biggest weakness for mine is that he gives up on the contest after the marking contest is done. He needs to keep focused and give the 2nd and 3rd efforts. Shit, I'd take just a 2nd effort for now.

Why just take a second effort. I would trade that for just the third effort personally.

 

[sregit]

His biggest weakness for mine is that he gives up on the contest after the marking contest is done. He needs to keep focused and give the 2nd and 3rd efforts. Shit, I'd take just a 2nd effort for now.

Miller’s biggest failing as a defender is losing focus. Forwards get a good ten metres on him before he realises they’ve led. Also once beaten for a mark drops his head and does not protect the mark. Slow thinker.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

Miller’s biggest failing as a defender is losing focus. Forwards get a good ten metres on him before he realises they’ve led. Also once beaten for a mark drops his head and does not protect the mark. Slow thinker.

Second half of season 2024 has really damaged his brand. He had to have been injured the drop off was massive.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Pretty decent development season. He’s quick and can jump and has nice skills.

 

[The Mighty]

Shouldnt have been given the #12.

Theres every chance he struggles to maintain a spot in the side.

Balta is a lock, and Blight is hitting pre-season like a man possessed by reports.

Not to mention Broad and Tigger and even Gibcus.

 

[lizard man]

Funky miller

 

[Wrenny]

Funky miller

Jees you’re a weird egg

 

[lizard man]

Jees you’re a weird egg

Funky is his nickname haha

 

[lizard man]

 

[Moppey]

2 years is not long, backup to some extent when Gibcus and Trainor join with Balta. But that will take some time.

Could he play a less purely defensive role and be given more freedom as Broad has. Much the same pace, bigger and a much better kick. In 2022 playing VFL, he had 3 games of 25 disposals and one of 27 in 5 weeks playing up the ground. Chopped off everything.

Think Trainor will play pretty quickly myself. Gibcus will be treated with the kid gloves that need to be used.

I think Funky Miller is copping a bit of a raw deal here. Yep late in the year some of the efforts were poor but i thought his first say two thirds three quarters of the year was pretty darn decent with a lot of actual improvement in a lot of areas.

I have Trainor pegged as our third tall but the first few games may see Miller with his pace and great ball use for a bloke his size used as that third interceptor.
I actually think with Balta suspended, early games of the season will see all three of Blight, Kossie and Miller starting the season with Miller as the third big tall.

In an ideal world i think most supporters would think the future is Gibcus, Trainor and Balta but until they are all fit and not suspended i think Blight and Miller are decent fill ins. Kossie as a defender im not really sold on.

 

[Moppey]

Unfair criticism here he had a great start to the season and went off last 10 games I agree. Plenty to work with. People forget the ball was in defence so much and was a ping pong at times coming in the dam finally breaks even if you have the best defence

I agree but what hurt him was some of the really poor physical efforts in the latter games. You tend to remember them.

By just about most metrics he improved and by a bit. I actually think he just got ground down.

What i continue to like about him is his athletic traits. This bloke is quick and he is a very good kick. Just need him to actually clunk a few more marks.
I also think he looked pretty poor later in the year by not actually committing to a man or a contest and getting caught in no mans land. A bit of do i go to the contest and kill it or do i get back on the loosy. In the end doing neither.

If we can just get a little bit more aggression into him more desperation then i think he will continue to improve.
If we can get him taking more marks in a contest as well.

Its funny at the end of last season with some of the efforts i had him out the door. Now looking back and taking a calm approach you can actually see the overall improvement. With some of his physical traits i can see him as a third tall rather than a key defender.

What im really hoping for is a late bloomer like Liam Jones when he went into defence. There is a lot of similarities.

 

[Wavvey]

His first 10 or so games last year he was right up there amongst his peers in a lot of key statistics for full backs (1v1s, spoils, intercepts ect.). I thought he was fantastic.

His season went to shit as the team also went to shit which in my opinion is the exact reason why.

 

[tiger_tough]

His first 10 or so games last year he was right up there amongst his peers in a lot of key statistics for full backs (1v1s, spoils, intercepts ect.). I thought he was fantastic.

His season went to shit as the team also went to shit which in my opinion is the exact reason why.

100%. I've been as big of a critic as any over the journey, but he was fantastic for a lot of last season, especially given the circumstances.

The bloke hasn't even played 50 games yet.

 

[richoatthedisco]

He got thrown around a lot early but was always going to be a key back

Has all the attributes that Astbury had and even reached his level of performance at times this year

Once the midfield really just gave up the ghost the whole backline (except Rioli and maybe Broad) dropped their bundle

He’s there to take the gorillas allowing Balta to focus on intercept and the only other person on our list currently that might fill that role is Blight who’s a mid season pick in his first proper year

Ben will play a lot of footy so this makes sense. Personally I think he’s better than Blight

He doesn't have any of Astbury's attributes. Dave was a great mark, Miller is not. Miller is quick, Dave was not. Dave was strong body-on-body, Ben is not. Dave was just an okay kick who only ever went long down the line, Miller is a beautiful kick willing to take on the high-risk, high-reward, inboard kick.

Miller is not there to take on the gorillas. He's a second or third tall at his best at CHB where he can spoil and run off to attack.

 

[Dr Tigris]

He doesn't have any of Astbury's attributes. Dave was a great mark, Miller is not. Miller is quick, Dave was not. Dave was strong body-on-body, Ben is not. Dave was just an okay kick who only ever went long down the line, Miller is a beautiful kick willing to take on the high-risk, high-reward, inboard kick.

Miller is not there to take on the gorillas. He's a second or third tall at his best at CHB where he can spoil and run off to attack.

I rekcon the biggest difference, so far, is that Dave was a smart footballer. Miller has godo footy sense, then doesn't. If his footy brain gets to Astbury's level then we have the real deal.

 

[Ma Xiao Long]

Dusty drinks Cruisers