For someone who admitted to a few nerves before the first bounce of his Portarlington debut, Teia Miles certainly didn’t show it in the drought-breaking win over Newcomb.
The 27-year-old, good enough to play 12 AFL games with Hawthorn and more than 100 games across the VFL and WAFL, lived up to expectations by kicking five goals in the Demons’ 31-point Good Friday win.
“I was very nervous before the game; it’s been a big buildup to this 150th anniversary celebration for Portarlington,” Miles told K rock Football.
“It was probably throughout the whole week, to be honest.
“It wasn’t until the ball got thrown up that I started to settle.
“I’m so proud of the boys; they did a fantastic job.”
Starting forward, Miles finished with five goals.
However, with Portarlington keen to ensure its first win since Round 16, 2018, he spent some time as a loose player in defence in the final term alongside Kelly Pickard.
“I was getting a bit nervous in that last quarter, so I thought I’d throw myself behind the footy,” Miles said.
“And Kelly’s an awesome intercept defender as well,
“We do work very well together, Kelly and I.
“So, it was just a bit of communication between me and him that, ‘we’ve got to try and slow the game down and soak up the last five or six minutes (on the clock)’.”
Miles has urged his teammates to use the win, which has Portarlington inside the top five for the first time since early in the 2016 season, as a launchpad into the 2024 season.
That starts with a trip to Ocean Grove this Saturday, where the Demons will look to end a 58-game losing streak against the Grubbers dating back to Round 3, 1994.
“We’re not going to settle for a one-win season,” Miles said. “We’ve got to try and push for 2-0 next week.
“But it does hurt losing Mitchy Turnbull and Jarryd Cachia, and then ‘Wiff’ (Shane Wiffen) goes down as well.
“To have one on the bench to run out that last quarter was a bloody phenomenal effort.”
X: @krockfootball
