Jack Miller remembers what it was like to be 21.
And then he looks at Senna Agius, who’ll succeed him as the sole Australian on the MotoGP grid in 2027, and shakes his head.
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“Compared to Senna, I was a d***head kid, a ratbag, at 21,” Miller tells Fox Sports in an exclusive interview at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
“I’ve never met a kid with more work ethic than him when it comes to training, preparing himself, physical training and the training he does off the bike with the superbike or the motocross bike. He just does everything properly.
“When I came in, we were winging it because nobody was doing that. He’s the modern MotoGP racer.”
Miller will bid MotoGP farewell at the end of 2026, with Agius becoming the sole Australian on the grid. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Agius, 21, will join the world championship’s premier class with Tech3 KTM next season, riding for team owner and F1 cult figure Guenther Steiner. It’s no less of a baptism of fire as Miller’s 2015 MotoGP debut as a 20-year-old for LCR Honda after having leapt straight from Moto3 to MotoGP and skipping Moto2 altogether; it’s simultaneously difficult, and different.
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But where a wet-behind-the-ears Miller had to look elsewhere or internally in an attempt to find a roadmap that saw him mature and become the first Australian to surpass 200 premier-class starts earlier in his 12th and final season this year, he was determined to help whoever came next from Australian shores.
That latest someone is a kid from Camden in New South Wales who was nine when Miller’s big-bike journey began.
It’s something Agius remains grateful for.
Agius’ winning ways across the past two years paved his way to a MotoGP promotion. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“I wish there were the two of us [together in MotoGP] and I think that would have made for great racing … it was a goal of mine to be on the grid with someone as established as Jack, and he’s not going to be there, which is a shame,“ Agius said at Motegi.
“But Jack … look, he’s just not a s**t guy, and it’s good to have someone that you look up to have your back in the paddock. He’s offered his help and been a sounding board, and he didn’t have to do that.
“I’m glad that he’s moving onto something new that’s good for him. I’m glad that he’s slotted into a factory team in World Superbikes. I don’t know how a character like Jack would go just staying at home …”.
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LOOKING OUT FOR ONE OF YOUR OWN
Miller was, as he’ll readily admit, nothing like the polished young adult Agius has become when he dived into the deep waters of the premier class in 2015.
The Townsville tyro’s Moto3 rise came with wins celebrated with breakdance moves in gravel traps, celebrations or commiserations that he’ll concede occasionally went on too long and became a little too boozy, and a combative approach that didn’t endear him to everyone.
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Fast-forward to 2026, and Miller – now 31 and behind only Marc Marquez on the current grid for MotoGP races started (221 to 214) – has morphed into a rider with one of most technically-renowned minds in the business.
Yes, his unfiltered press briefings require a heavy use of asterisks to make it into print, and his larrikin nature – witness last weekend’s latest instalment of ‘Miller Taxis’ at Motegi, when he collected Alex Rins and rode him back to the pits after the Spaniard’s bike had broken down, pulling a wild rolling stoppie en route – remains unmatched.
There’s not much Miller hasn’t seen across 12 seasons and 200-plus MotoGP starts (Pramac Racing Ltd)Source: Supplied
But there’s not much Miller hasn’t seen in a world championship career that began in the long-defunct 125cc category in 2011, and he’s keen to pass on whatever he can to Agius.
“I hope that maybe one day, he does that for another Aussie young guy coming through,” Miller said.
“Looking back, I didn’t have that person – maybe [British rider and first MotoGP teammate] Cal [Crutchlow] was that for me. But in Moto3, I 100 per cent didn’t have that person. I absolutely still had some people in my corner, people like [manager] Aki [Ajo], but I didn’t have another rider.
“You don’t necessarily need to have one, but sometimes it’s nice to hear that when you’re doing good, someone says you’re doing a good job, just to get that reassurance.”
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The nature of the world championship race day schedule – the entry-level Moto3 category race at 11am followed by Moto2 at 12.15pm, then the 2pm main event with MotoGP – means the sport’s biggest riders can justifiably remove themselves from the public eye to prepare for their own races if they so choose.
Miller isn’t as hyperactive as he was barely out of his teens – where even sitting still was a challenge – but he’s still not one to shut himself off. If Aussie Joel Kelso is on track in Moto3, or Agius is taking to the grid for Moto2, Miller is standing on the pit wall or has eyes on a TV screen, locked in.
“I’m always open to him asking questions, and if there’s anything I’ve seen with his riding or his race craft, you just try to pass that on if it helps,” Miller said of Agius.
“You can’t tell someone how to do it – you have to let someone do it themselves – but I just want to help him if I can. It’s not like a mentor or a rider coach, because I don’t want to be that and he doesn’t need that.
“What I’ve seen, watching the races because I watch all the Aussies, one little thing I’ve noticed that he does well and I actually wish I could do is how he prepares and how he’s never in a rush to get into a corner.
“I’m always in a f**king rush – I always have been. I turn in early, but that has made me a good racer as I’m able to block the line and still keep the same pace.
“But Senna, he always looks like he has time, and that’s a really good sign for someone as young as he still is.”
Agius’ riding style has caught Miller’s attention, and earned his admiration. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
KEEPING THE AUSSIE FLAG FLYING
When Agius lines up for his premier-class debut next March in Thailand – by which time Miller will already be into his maiden World Superbikes season – he’ll be doing more than simply starting his own next chapter.
He’ll also be keeping what’s become a remarkable Australian record of continuity on the MotoGP grid alive.
Wayne Gardner, who went on to become the 500cc world champion in 1987 and was instrumental in Australia having a round on the world championship calendar two years later, became a full-time participant in the series in 1985.
There’s been at least one full-time Australian and as many as three riders from these shores on the grid for every season since, and 17 riders in all.
Australian full-time riders in MotoGP/500cc since 1985
2027: Senna Agius
2023-26: Jack Miller
2022: Miller, Remy Gardner
2015-21: Miller
2014: Broc Parkes
2013: Bryan Staring
2010-12: Casey Stoner
2009: Stoner, Chris Vermeulen
2007-08: Stoner, Vermeulen, Anthony West
2006: Stoner, Vermeulen
2004-05: Troy Bayliss
2003: Bayliss, Garry McCoy, Andrew Pitt
2002: McCoy
2001: West, McCoy
2000: McCoy
1998-99: McCoy, Mick Doohan
1997: Doohan, Daryl Beattie, Anthony Gobert
1994-96: Doohan, Beattie
1993: Doohan, Beattie, Mat Mladin
1990-92: Doohan, Wayne Gardner
1989: Doohan, Gardner, Kevin Magee
1988: Gardner, Magee
1985-87: Gardner
Nine of those 17 won premier-class Grands Prix, with Miller one of six to win multiple times; Doohan won 54 Grands Prix, Stoner 38, Gardner 18 and Miller four, with Daryl Beattie and Garry McCoy taking three victories apiece.
The imprint of the most successful quartet of that cohort tells a tale of a lap of Phillip Island, where Gardner Straight leads into the first turn, Doohan Corner. From there, the turn that showcased Stoner’s genius more than anywhere else, the fearsome left-hander at turn three, was renamed Stoner Corner; it leads into turn four, rebranded as Miller Corner in 2022.
Only time will tell if Agius is able to make a similar impact. But he’s aware of the streak he’s single-handedly continuing next year, and proud to be part of that lineage, if a little prickly about suggestions that his passport as much as his pace helped him graduate from Moto2 after a 2026 campaign that started brightly, but has been blighted by bike unreliability and tailed off.
Agius will continue an Australian presence on the top-flight grid that began in 1985 next season. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“It’s a small presence, and a pretty healthy list of riders with great achievements with Mick, Casey and Wayne winning championships,” Agius said.
“But the reality is that it’s a small part of the overall picture, we’ve only really ever had a maximum in one year of a couple of Australians compared to six from some European countries.
“There’s obviously people who think there’s an importance for me to be here and that it’s great for Australia and that Australia benefits from it, but I can tell you for free that there’s not much importance to me being there just for the passport.
“Obviously with the [Adelaide] Grand Prix coming up [in 2027], it would be a shame if there wasn’t an Australian there. But I was the last rider to be signed for the 2027 grid, the last contract that was offered. I feel that if it was so important for me to be there, say, undeservingly, I would have been the first new rider to get signed, not the last.”
Agius’ ascension is a combination of his talent, being in the right place at the right time for a team boss in Steiner who was specifically looking for a young talent whose ceiling remains unclear, and taking his chances.
Now he’s there, Miller feels confident his compatriot’s controlling of the controllables will hold him in good stead.
“We [Australia] bat above our average in all motorsport – F1, motocross, MotoGP, Superbikes – everything,” Miller says.
“So Senna continuing this – and I firmly believe he is the next one with his work ethic and the way he’s going about it – he’ll make it work, make the sacrifices and do what needs to be done.
“He’ll make it work if he’s given time.”