Portarlington recruit Teia Miles says he almost signed with Barwon Heads for the 2024 season

A former AFL midfielder has opened up on one of the toughest decisions of his footballing life: choosing a team to play for in the Bellarine.

Teia Miles played 12 games for Hawthorn. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media.

It was one of the hardest decisions former Hawthorn midfielder Teia Miles ever had to make in his footballing journey.

After deciding on the far easier call to not return to Western Australia for another season with Claremont in 2024, the 27-year-old’s sporting world view narrowed significantly towards the Bellarine region.

With Miles and his father Geoff having strong ties with the Demons since the end of 2019, where the latter was a team manager, Portarlington seemed like a probable destination.

However, adding a layer of complexity, Barwon Heads senior co-coach Sam Schaller was a family friend, captain and Seagulls defender Kyle Polley is his best mate and Miles had spent all his junior days at Howard Harmer Oval.

Teia Miles playing with Box Hill Hawks in August, 2019. Picture: AAP Image/James Ross.

Miles, who played 12 games for Hawthorn, had also donned the whites with the Seagulls alongside Schaller in the BPCA.

“It was a really tough decision in the end,” Miles said, confronted with the conundrum back in November.

However, further discussions with his father ultimately swayed Miles towards joining the Bellarine’s most battling club, which hasn’t enjoyed the four points from its past 68 matches.

In short, Portarlington hadn’t tasted victory since well before Geoff Miles joined the club with their most recent victory in 2018 and it being 29 years since their last finals campaign.

Teia Miles batting for Barwon Heads against Jan Juc in January, 2020. Picture: Alan Barber

With a few Demons people also reaching out for a beer and a friendly chat, Miles would come to realise he felt duty-bound to try to lift the Dees off the canvas.

“I thought the right decision was to help out a struggling club,” Miles said.

“It’s never good to see teams struggle and get beaten by 100 points every single week.

“It was probably one of the hardest decisions, ever, to not play at Barwon Heads.

“It actually took longer than I thought to be honest, I was very close at signing at Barwon Heads to be honest.

“I was nearly on my way down there to sign on the dotted line.”

Miles had experienced first-hand the disappointment on the faces of Demons players after another big loss; watching games whenever his VFL schedule.

“I always got down and watched, even trained during pre-season when I wasn’t needed at Williamstown,” he said.

“I’ve watched Portarlington from afar the past few years, ever since my family got involved.

“They’ve got such a good community down there, all their fans want to see some success and hopefully we can provide that this year.

“I’m happy with my decision now.”

Portarlington’s leadership group: Shane Wiffen, Kelly Packard, Teia Miles, Stephen Walton, Mitch Turnbull, Max Ruiter and Nathan Piggot. Picture: Brad Fleet

Geoff was elated to see his son join the team, having played a key role in the contract being signed.

“He had a fair bit to do it,” he said.

“He’s pretty stoked now I’m at Portarlington.

“Hopefully we can try and help out this footy club as much as we can.

“We all pretty much fell in love with the club as soon as we got down there.”

Miles also comes with a further string to his bow — Geelong champion and brother-in-law, Mitch Duncan.

The two-time AFL premiership player has been with Miles’ sister Demi for more than a decade, welcoming their fourth child late last week, Parker.

And like Miles, Duncan has attended Portarlington trainings in the past when his AFL schedule would allow.

Miles is hoping the star Cat will chip in again in 2024.

Meanwhile, the former Hawk looks back on his time in the AFL system with gratitude.

“I got to live out a childhood dream for five years,” he said.

“Learning off guys like Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell and Jarryd Roughead in my early days was unreal.

“I wouldn’t change too much looking back on it.”

Originally published as Portarlington recruit Teia Miles says he almost signed with Barwon Heads for the 2024 season