Crow Wayne Milera Junior has capped off an incredible Indigenous Round by winning the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination for Round 10.
Milera, 19, played a key role in the Club’s 100-point victory over Fremantle at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
Wearing boots hand painted by a local Aboriginal artist, the youngster had 16 disposals at an elite 88 per cent efficiency in heavy conditions against the Dockers. Milera also took five marks, laid four tackles and kicked three goals to equal his career-best haul against Gold Coast in Round Nine last season.
He’s Adelaide’s first NAB AFL Rising Star nominee since Jake Lever in Round 17, 2015.
Past Crows Rising Star nominees
The Ingle Farm junior was recruited by the Crows from SANFL club Central District with pick No.11 in the 2015 National Draft.
Milera made his AFL debut in the opening round of last season and played eight games for the year, impressing with his dash, dare and neat ball use.
The skilful forward/wingman has missed just one match this season and continues to grow with every outing.
He’s averaging 17 disposals, three marks and two tackles a game and is ranked third at the Club for disposal efficiency (81 per cent). Milera is also top 10 at Adelaide for effective kicks (62), handballs received (77), goal assists (7) and score assists (10) in Season 2017.
To be eligible for the NAB AFL Rising Star Award, players must be under the age of 21 as of January 1 and have played no more than 10 AFL games to the start of that season. Suspended players are ineligible to win the award.
Milera is among 11 Crows eligible for this year’s Rising Star award alongside Jordan Gallucci, Dean Gore, Harry Dear, Harrison Wigg, Tom Doedee and first-year players Ben Davis, Ben Jarman, Elliott Himmelberg, Myles Poholke and Matthew Signorello.
2017 Rising Star Nominees
Round One - Sam Powell-Pepper (Port Adelaide)
Round Two - Ryan Burton (Hawthorn)
Round Three - Brandan Parfitt (Geelong)
Round Four - Andrew McGrath (Essendon)
Round Five - Eric Hipwood (Brisbane)
Round Six - Caleb Marchbank (Carlton)
Round Seven - Sam Petrevski-Seton (Carlton)
Round Eight - Tim Taranto (GWS)
Round Nine - Tom Phillips (Collingwood)
Following each round of the Home and Away season, a panel of judges select a NAB AFL Rising Star nominee. At the completion of the season, one of these nominees will be chosen as the 2017 NAB AFL Rising Star.
The 2017 NAB AFL Rising Star winner will be awarded the Ron Evans Medal, a $20,000 personal investment folio and a dedicated personal banker, courtesy of NAB.
