Anthony Miles speaks about his Christian faith and looking after his players' mental health

Probably not the way you expected this interview with a former AFL star to open but those 31 words are fundamental to understanding Anthony Miles and the set of beliefs which underpin everything he does.

The verse, from the book of Isaiah, is found in the 29-year-old's Twitter bio and has been key throughout his footballing journey.

"My career was far from seamless," Miles said.

"I was de-listed at 21 and told I wasn't going to get another opportunity at AFL level. You dream of playing AFL when you're five or six - I did anyway - and to have that potentially taken away...

"I was given a chance at Richmond, played 60 or 70 games straight and then didn't get much of a look-in again. I missed out on the 2017 grand final. While you're absolutely thrilled for your mates, you'd also love to be part of it.

"There were a lot of ups and downs, injuries, all the rest of it, but I've got a fantastic group of friends and family who have kept me grounded - and my faith has kept it pretty solid for me."

Miles may be open about his Christian beliefs but he certainly has no desire to preach at people. While religion can often represent a set of habitual behaviours and lists of rules to follow, the faith Miles describes is a way of life; actions speaking louder than words.

"Faith, family and footy is massive for me - in that order," he said.

"To be able to help young guys through issues and for them to see how I'd like to live my life and how I go about things is probably the most rewarding thing as a coach.

"Like anyone, I still fall short at times but my faith is something that keeps me pretty grounded. It shapes the man that I am and I've got some great mentors in my life, such as my brother, David, who's the coach at Howlong.

"They keep things in perspective for me and particularly when I was playing AFL footy, the rigours of the AFL, it's such an up-and-down industry and to have that grounded faith and know who I am, my identity, not as a footballer or a coach, is massive for me."

Miles played 88 matches in the AFL before announcing his retirement last year and signing a three-year deal as playing coach of the Albury Tigers.

Results so far suggest it's been a seamless transition but for Miles, creating the right culture at the Sportsground is as big a win as anything on the scoreboard.

"I'm really passionate about mental health, particularly in young males," he said.

"This year's given us a great platform and I will always say to the players, and (co-coach) Luke Daly's exactly the same, that we're mates first of all and coaches second.

"I'd like to think we've built a great connection. We speak about connection as a playing group and we've done some fantastic exercises on that this year, so that any player on our list, from the thirds to the senior captain, can come and talk to us about anything.

"As a society, vulnerability was once seen as a weakness, particularly showing vulnerability to your mates. We've been big on that this year, that vulnerability is the opposite to weakness.

"If you lean in to being vulnerable to your mates, you'd be surprised how many guys are going through a similar thing and can help each other out.

"I believe the job is only 10-15 percent footy stuff and the rest is managing people.

"I'm fully convinced that if your life balance is good off the field, you're going to play better footy as a result. That's a by-product of helping players as people first and for me, as coach, that's more rewarding.

"As a footy club, we're fortunate enough that every grade has won every game this year but for me, the most pleasing thing is that connection we've started to build. It's really powerful and it's a strong place to be.

"Guys walk through the door at the Albury footy club with a smile, they leave with a smile and it's a place where they want to be."

There is, of course, a premiership to be won and the Tigers are due to re-commence their campaign away to Yarrawonga next Saturday. Miles, fit again after a hamstring complaint, has used his experience of 'hub life' with Gold Coast last year to keep the players motivated during the COVID-enforced shutdowns.

"It's more about changing it up and not just rolling in and doing the same drills and expecting the same thing from guys," he said.

"Whether that be some theory stuff, some connection stuff, different games that you can play to keep guys interested, that's probably the thing I took out of the hub last year, trying to keep the energy high.

"From the start of the year, we spoke a lot about controlling what you can control and that theory's certainly been put to the test over the last three or four weeks.

"But we've still had 45 guys at training in the wet and cold so the buy-in has been phenomenal.

"If you'd said, at the start of the year, we'd be 12-0, we'd be absolutely thrilled with that.

"The landscape of the competition has been a lot different this year with availability of players and sides coming together at different times. Wangaratta have brought some guys in and they're starting to gel.

"Against Wang Rovers, it could have gone either way down there and the same with the Wang game so we're under no illusions. We've still got a lot of work to do.

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"I still believe Wangaratta are the benchmark.

"We were really looking forward to the challenge of playing them at Wangaratta and seeing where we truly are at.

"I saw an article with Dean Stone where he said they'd improved since our last game, and we have as well."

As for life back on the Border, Miles couldn't be happier.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace," he said.

"Sometimes people think that because you've had 10 years in the AFL, you automatically know how to coach - which isn't necessarily true.

"But to have the support that I have at Albury has been massive for me. Luke Daly has been phenomenal, Shaun Daly and the board, everyone has been great.

"Coming from the AFL and seeing the amount of volunteers Albury has, doing everything for free, for the betterment of the club, has probably re-energised my passion for footy."

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