Jim "Frosty" Miller

Jim Miller
Personal information
Full name James Joseph Miller[1]
Date of birth (1944-05-03) 3 May 1944
Place of birth West Gippsland
Original team(s) Garfield
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 85 kg (187 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1964–1965 Carlton 11 (29)
1967–1977 Dandenong 183 (885)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1977.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

James Joseph "Frosty" Miller (born 3 May 1944) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and had a noted career with Dandenong in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).

Recruited from the small town of Garfield, Miller won the 1963 West Gippsland Football League goalkicking award with 121 goals. Miller, a full-forward, started his career at Carlton and showed glimpses of his prolific goalkicking in his two seasons, scoring five goals against Hawthorn in just his second game and managing a sequence of five, six and four goals during the 1964 season. Miller decided to leave Carlton midway in 1965 he returned to Garfield. In 1966 he set a West Gippsland league record of 148 goals.

He joined VFA club Dandenong in 1967 and soon became a valuable member of the team playing at full forward. He kicked 106 goals in 1969. He was a member of Dandenong's 1971 premiership team, remembered for a controversial free kick that he received before the opening siren of the Grand Final. The umpire, having seen Preston full-back Barrie Leslie push Miller in the back, awarded a free kick despite the start of play not having been signalled. Miller kicked the goal and four quarters later Dandenong won by six points. Preston lodged a protest after the game and it went to a VFA hearing, with the final decision from the committee going in Dandenong's favour 39 votes to five. Miller was also a member of Dandenong's victorious 1967 Grand Final team.

Miller was the leading goalkicker in the Association across the full season (including finals) six times over a seven-year span during his career: in 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1974. He was also the leading goalkicker in the home-and-away season on four of those occasions; he was second in 1971[2] and third in 1973,[3] but passed those ahead of him during the finals. In 1973, he kicked his career high 108 goals. When he retired early in the 1977 season, he had amassed 885 goals at an average of 4.8 per game.[4]

Miller became Captain-Coach of Berwick of the South West Gippsland Football League in 1977. In 1978 he kicked 201 goals for the season, the fourth man to achieve this feat. He stopped playing in 1981 after injuries hampered his last three seasons.

The Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal, awarded to the leading goalkicking in the modern day VFL, is named in his honour. He is a full-forward in Dandenong's official 'Team of the Century'.

References

  1. ↑ Marc Fiddian (30 August 1976). "Dandenong outsmarts the Bears". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 25.
  2. ↑ Terry O'Halloran (30 August 1971). "Roosters win, but relegated". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 21.
  3. ↑ John Holland (27 August 1973). "Preston stays in top division". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 22.
  4. ↑ Marc Fiddian (22 April 1977). "Five changes by Prahran". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 29.
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