In-form Miers thrives on pressure

LIVEWIRE Geelong forward Gryan Miers says playing VFL finals this year will be invaluable for his development.

The 19-year-old had 14 disposals, six contested possessions, three tackles and a goal in Saturday’s narrow three-point defeat to Casey at home, but the stats sheet understated his ability to apply forward pressure on the Demons’ defenders.

Miers said high-pressure games like Saturday’s were critical for his learning.

“Today was pretty much a replica of a finals game, it shows how much pressure there is and that’s the pressure pretty much every week at AFL level,” he said.

“I need to be in those situations, if I’m going to take it to the next level, to learn from those.

“(It was a) disappointing result in the end but we can take away a lot of positives out of this.

“We know we’re good enough; we know if we play our best footy we can be up there with the best sides. Obviously it’s a one-goal loss but that’s just one goal; we’d rather lose now than in the finals, so we can take away a lot of things from this.”

Miers hasn’t missed a game this year, a record he’s keen to keep intact, but said byes such as this weekend’s threatened to halt his good form.

“I don’t want to jinx myself; I’ve never missed a game through injury or illness, so I’m keeping that going,” he said.

“I like playing week by week, I don’t really like byes, it slows me down a little bit, so I’ll play as much as I can.

“I started the season off a bit uncomfortable and didn’t really know my role too much and the longer the season’s gone I’ve just really adapted to it and know what I’m doing out there.

“The forward pressure will give me the ball from there and just brings others into the game too and helps the defenders down the ground.

“I look at the tackles straight after the game and see how I went in that regard.”