FRESH from winning the J.J. Liston Trophy for the VFL best and fairest, Richmond's Anthony Miles says he still holds out hope for a spot in the senior team this September.
The hard-nut midfielder tied with Williamstown's Michael Gibbons for the award on Monday night in a thrilling finish that saw neither poll a vote in the final round.
Miles has played just one AFL game this year, coming in for a sore Dustin Martin in round 12, and five in 2017 after being a regular senior fixture in his three seasons before that.
He conceded it had been a frustrating year, dominating at VFL level but being unable to break into a strong Richmond line-up.
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"(VFL coach) Craig McRae's a big advocate. His thing for me was always to, when you come back to the VFL, not be a VFL player, be an AFL player playing VFL," Miles said.
"That's something that I've always tried to do and think I've been able to do, so I'd be lying if it wasn't frustrating."
He was pleased with his form this year given the extra attention he received on-field.
"I'm 26 and I still feel like I'm in the prime of my career. I think my footy has, in a way, reflected that," Miles said.
"I hadn't had the challenge of being tagged much until this year and probably had some heavy tags in four or five games which I was able to work through eventually, but early on I struggled with that a little bit."
With Richmond's VFL side crashing out of the finals in straight sets on Saturday, Miles will be relying on his previous body of work to impress selectors ahead of next Friday's AFL preliminary final.
"I've been at Richmond for five years, so the AFL selection committee know what I can produce if needed. I'll just continue to train with the main group and you just never know.
"Obviously we've got a preliminary final to get through and then hopefully we can make the AFL Grand Final and I'll certainly be putting my hand up through training in that period."
The out-of-contract Miles has been linked to Gold Coast, where his AFL experience and strong physical work as an inside midfielder would be valuable, but when asked about the Suns he played a straight bat.
"I love Richmond, I love the place and I love the people there. I'm focused on the next few weeks and as I said, you never know. My childhood dream was to play in an AFL Grand Final and hopefully win one, so all my attention's on that.
"After a couple of weeks, I'll sit down with Richmond and the people closest to me and work through that."
