Ian Miller

Ian Robert Miller was born on 16 December 1949. He grew up in the Perth Football Club tradition: his father Bob Miller played 172 games for the Demons. The nickname Serge stuck for life. Height and build listed in career records were about 185 cm and 86 kg.

Miller played 132 WANFL games for Perth from 1967 to 1973, kicking 135 goals. A versatile half-back flanker who moved to centre half-forward, he was in the 1968 premiership side, runner-up fairest and best in 1971, and in 1972 won the Sandover Medal as the first player to take the award from that key forward post. He also earned All-Australian honours after representing Western Australia at the Perth Carnival.

After a clearance dispute he joined Fitzroy for 1974-1977. Recruited as a 24-year-old star from Perth, he debuted in Round 1, 1974 against St Kilda at Moorabbin and averaged 23 disposals in his first season. Converted toward ruck-rover work, he played 80 games and kicked 33 goals, including 64 of a possible 66 matches across his final three Lions seasons, and was runner-up fairest and best in 1976.

In 1978 he returned to Western Australia with East Perth under Barry Cable. In his first season the Royals beat Perth by two points in the grand final and Miller won the Simpson Medal as best on ground. He played 64 games for East Perth through 1980 and was runner-up club champion in 1979.

Miller coached Perth's seniors from 1982 to 1984, completing a full circle with the club where he had begun as a player and premiership teammate.

He joined West Coast's football department, serving on the match committee through the successful 1990s (chairman 1993-1998). From 2002 until retirement he was Player Services Coordinator, supporting player development beyond the field, especially for interstate draftees. West Coast made him a Life Member in 2012. CEO Don Pyke later said his knowledge, strategic insight and compassion were instrumental to the club.

• 1968 Perth premiership player
• 1972 Sandover Medal
• 1972 All-Australian
• 15 Western Australia state games
• 1978 East Perth premiership and Simpson Medal
• Perth Team of the Century (half-forward flank, named 1999)
• 2008 WA Football Hall of Fame inductee
• 2012 West Coast Eagles Life Member
• 2020 AFL Life Member
• 2021 Neale Daniher Lifetime Achievement Award
• WAFC Life Member

Miller was married to Robin (spelled Robyn in some media reports). Former players remembered him as a father figure who called when families faced grief and who stayed in touch long after careers ended. Will Schofield said Miller was the first club contact when Schofield lost his father and later his brother.

Ian Miller died in Perth on the evening of Monday 14 September 2026, aged 76. The West Coast Eagles, WA Football, Brisbane Lions and 7NEWS published tributes on 15 September. Early club and news statements did not publish a medical cause of death. Condolences were extended to Robin and the family.

Miller's on-field record (276 senior games, Sandover and Simpson medals, dual flags, All-Australian and Hall of Fame status) would have been enough for lasting memory. Colleagues insist his greater mark was player welfare at West Coast: selflessness, humour and care that made him, in Anna Walsh's words, a king among men, and that shaped Eagles players for nearly two decades.

Career notes describe a versatile half-forward and ruck-rover who could also play half-back. At Perth he became a key forward Sandover winner; at Fitzroy and East Perth he thrived as a linking midfielder and rover-style player under pressure, culminating in the 1978 Simpson Medal.

• Perth Football Club (player 1967-1973; coach 1982-1984)
• Fitzroy Football Club / Brisbane Lions lineage (1974-1977)
• East Perth Football Club (1978-1980)
• Western Australia (15 interstate games)
• West Coast Eagles (match committee; Player Services Coordinator; Life Member)