Miller proud to not be limping to 300 games

CONSISTENCY, quality and longevity easily sum up the remarkable WAFL career of Kris Miller who this Friday night will join the all-time greats of West Australian football becoming just the sixth player in the competition's storied history to play 300 matches.

Miller has never missed a game through injury in his entire career that began at East Fremantle in 1999 and while he hasn’t missed a game, there has been no drop off in form either throughout each one of his 299 matches in the WAFL to date either as a midfielder or half-forward.

Over 153 matches at East Fremantle that saw him earn life membership, win a Lynn Medal and play in the losing 2000 grand final, he was one of the Sharks' best players the entire time no matter how the club was performing.

Remarkably, since arriving at South Fremantle in 2007 he has had an ever better period of his career both in terms of individual accolades and team success though.

A premiership was what he craved and he achieved that in 2009 while winning one of his three WJ Hughes Medals as South Fremantle fairest and best in the same year.

He is now closing in on life membership at the Bulldogs, but before that becomes just the sixth player in WAFL history to play 300 games this Friday night at Fremantle Oval against Perth – after Bill Dempsey, Mel Whinnen, Jack Sheedy, Bill Walker and Brian Peake.

Miller is excited to reach the milestone this Friday night to see him join that list of champions of WAFL football and it's unlikely to be a feat repeated with East Perth's Craig Wulff the next longest-serving current player with 223 matches under his belt.

"It's exciting actually and it has obviously been a long time coming. I have been thinking about it for a while and at the end of last year I didn’t know if I would be able to play on or not, so it has sort of been hovering around for six months. It is pretty exciting for me and my family I think so I'm looking forward to it," Miller said.

"If you look at the names of the players who have done it, they are in the upper echelon of the history of WA football. If I can't be anywhere near as good as them, at least my name is up there among those players for something with the games we've played.

"I think it's something that is pretty special and it will probably mean even more when I finish and can look back and say I got to 300 games."

Miller isn’t sure what his secret to being so durable has been, but not having serious injuries to keep him sidelined has certainly help as has the fact that his form has always been so strong over 299 matches that has never seen him being in danger of being dropped.

"I'm not sure there is a secret to it. I suppose I've been lucky with injuries. Really I have got there because of a lot of luck and fortunately I have been able to play good enough footy where generally my head hasn’t been on the chopping block. I try to pride myself on being a good, consistent player week in week out, year after year," he said.

"One of the proudest things with my career I have is that I like to think I have been really consistent the whole way through.

"Getting to your 100 or 150 or 200 or 250-game milestones is one thing, but I'm proud that I don’t think I have been towed along to any of them and instead I've been partially doing the towing for whatever team I've played for. That sits more with me than anything that I know that I have been doing a good job for my team and earned my spot for 300 games now."

Through his first 153 matches, Miller was as passionate about East Fremantle as anybody and certainly didn’t think that he would end up playing more matches with the Bulldogs by the end of his career.

"I remember saying when I got to 150 games that I felt I could play for another five years but you just don’t know what will happen and as it turns out that was only halfway through my career," he said.

"This is now my eighth year at Souths and I never imagined playing here this long, but they came along at the right time and the premiership I won here was the ultimate achievement in my career."

Miller was disappointed with what happened at the end of 2006 to see him end up departing East Fremantle prematurely, but the result for him personally has been the best thing to ever happen to his career.

He fitted in at South Fremantle instantly and will be remembered as a great of the Bulldogs in his own right as a life member, three-time fairest and best winner and a premiership player.

And when you consider he had a whole 153-game career under his belt when he arrived at Fremantle Oval, the Miller story is a remarkable one, will never be repeated and will see him always remembered now as an all-time great of WA football.

"What happened at East Fremantle happened but not in my wildest dreams at that point did I imagine I would still end up playing 300 games and earn life membership at Souths after doing the same thing at East Fremantle," Miller said.

"It's just funny how things turn out. I loved my majority of time at East Fremantle when I was there as well and things turned a bit sour, but that wasn’t through my decisions. Things happen and I wasn’t interested in being part of the direction they were going.

"John Dimmer was down here and I liked the way he went about things and it was only another five minutes down the road so it was convenient as well for me.

"South Fremantle has embraced me since I arrived and I certainly have embraced South Fremantle so I am comfortable that I have got as much out of them as they have from me."

Miller will be wearing specially-designed 300-game Puma King boots on Friday night for the occasion marking the first time in his career he has ever not donned black boots. The boots and game ball will be up for grabs in a raffle on Friday with tickets available $10 for six, $5 for three and $2 for one.

By Chris Pike