Mornings with Mark Duffield - FULL SHOW (16.09.2026)

Mark Duffield (0:00)

Hello, everybody, welcome to the SENWA Radio Studio. We're out here at Optus Stadium, Wednesday morning in Perth, and we are here thanks to Beaumont Homes, award-winning design, built to be loved forever. Sunny in Perth today, a top of 29 degrees, our warmest day in several months. Made in WA for WA, this is Mornings with Mark Duffield on SENWA. So I wanna talk about some sad news which broke yesterday of the passing of one of WA football's finest people. And that's Ian Miller, 1968 Premiership player with Perth, 1972 Sandover Medalist with the Demons. He was the first key position player in some time to win the Sandover Medal. He was All-Australian the same year at the National Carnival stage in Perth, runner-up in a Best and Fairest in one of his four seasons as a player in the VFL at Fitzroy. And finally, the Simpson Medalist at East Perth in their 1978 Premiership win over the Demons.

Ian died on Monday after a significant illness.

He played 276 games of senior footy all up, 132 for the Demons before leaving to join Fitzroy. He played 80 games with Fitzroy in the VFL and then 64 at East Perth upon his return to WA. He also coached hit at his club of origin, Perth, between 1982 and 1984 So Ian was a member of WA Football's Hall of Fame, and I've mentioned his playing achievements off the top for a reason. Because he had a significant playing career, which involved success at the three distinct levels that existed in Australian rules football at the time of his career, the Waffle, the VFL, and interstate footy. He excelled at all three levels.

But it could be argued that his playing career was not his major contribution to football. He might have been a champion player, but he was even more of a champion as a person in his off-field role at the West Coast Eagles Football Club.

Miller or Serge, as we all affectionately knew him, was a member of the Eagles match committee under Mick Malthouse in the 1990s, a period which saw the Eagles play 10 final series in a row. They made three grand finals and they won two premierships. But then followed his appointment as West Coast Player Services Coordinator in 2002 It was a role he held at the club until his retirement. By the time he retired, as I mentioned, he became a WA Foody Hall of Fame member and a West Coast Life member. The qualities that Serge had as a player that stood him in good stead were his strength, his consistency, his ability to play key position roles, despite being only 185 centimetre tall.

The qualities that took him to a level of service at West Coast that's rarely, if ever, been matched were his human qualities. He was kind, compassionate, quietly spoken, friendly, and thoughtful. He was the first port of call for the club's interstate recruits, the person who helped smooth out their transition, not just into an elite sporting environment, but also into a club on the other side of the country from their homes and families. I found Ian Miller to be quite simply as fine a man as I've ever met in my time covering footy. Our thoughts go to his wife Robin and his family as they process this sad time. Thoughts also go to the West Coast Eagles Football Club, and the many current and former players and staff whose lives Serge Miller touched. He was as loved and revered a figure at the Eagles as there ever has been.

Valet Serge, may you rest in peace. You left an incredible legacy of service to your club, and you made an incredible impression on the people you met and worked with.

487 736 736 is the text line this morning. If you want to give us your thoughts and questions, 13 12 55 is the Barra and O'Day open line. Barra and O'Day, because the little things are everything. Let's get on to Four Thoughts on Sport to get us rolling this morning. And first thought is on the selection conundrum facing Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir, ahead of the team's preliminary final against Sydney at the SCG on Friday night. Now, if you were listening to Justin's interview on Scotty and Goss for Breakfast just a little while ago, they've already decided that Brennan Cox will not play against the Sydney Swans. He will play for Peel in the grand final against Clermont on Sunday, which means that they're going to have to find another tall to cover one of the three talls that Sydney will throw at them. And I suspect they're going to rely heavily on the adaptability of Heath Chapman.