Socceroos boss Graham Arnold had just one question for Lewis Miller when he called to invite the Hibs fullback to the World Cup doubleheader kicking off in Gold Coast this week. “Are you ready to go?” Arnold asked. Miller, in true Aussie fashion, was probably tempted to reply with a dry “Ya reckon?”
“Yes, boss, I’m ready to go,” was Miller’s actual response as he eagerly boarded a plane at 8 AM, thrilled to have another shot at representing his country. With the match against Bahrain on the horizon, followed by next week’s trip to Indonesia, Miller is set to make his mark.
Reflecting on the personal abuse he received on social media after Australia’s quarter-final loss to South Korea, Miller admits: “Look, that’s always going to stick in my head. But you can’t really dwell on the past. Football is the most beautiful sport ever. But it can also be the cruellest sport ever. That’s football. It’s why we play it – for the extremes of emotion.”
He added, “I’m ready and determined to redeem myself, put it all right. And I do that by ignoring the past and focusing on what is in front of me.”
Returning to Scotland bruised by his first major tournament experience, Miller found support in his then-Hibs boss Nick Montgomery, who emphasized the importance of being “back where people love him.” Miller doesn’t disagree.
“We had a lot of senior players last year who lifted me, got round me when I got back here. Hibs almost became my obsession. I threw everything into grinding every day, working for the team. I think I bounced back quite well,” Miller shared.
Now, he’s excited to represent his country once again. “It’s always an honour playing for your country. I’m glad to be fit and ready to contribute again. The boss just asked me: ‘Are you ready?’ That was all he had to say. Because obviously I was struggling during the last camp with injuries, so it didn’t put me in a position to get selected.
“But now that I’ve come back and proved myself in pre-season, I’m getting consistent game time. That’s a big thing for Arnie, you have to be playing. Now I’m hopefully going to continue my own personal form, carry it over to the Socceroos – and get two wins in the qualifiers.”
However, even as Miller gears up for international duty, his thoughts remain with Hibs. As part of a defense prone to costly errors, he feels a personal responsibility. “I’m part of the defense. So I never want to concede goals. That’s what we’re there to prevent, it’s basically our job.”
Miller emphasized the need for unity at the back: “We all take individual responsibility together if that makes sense – we share it. We’re a unit back there. We need to work with more cooperation, more communication with one another to stop allowing sloppy goals like that to go in.”
The frustration is palpable. “It feels like we’re saying the same things quite often at the moment. But it’s a tough pill to swallow when you end up with a draw after being in a winning position.”
Reflecting on a recent match, Miller said, “Against Kilmarnock, we had 88 minutes of sticking to the game plan. And then it’s just one moment where we switch off. All the progress and positivity is erased, which is obviously unfortunate.
“The boys have really taken it to heart. We know we shouldn’t be where we are. We know we’re better than that. The international break is going to be a good chance for us to reset, to have a proper think about things, come back twice as determined to put it right. Because we can put it right.”