The knives are well and truly out for Anthony Milford at the Brisbane Broncos once again with the No. 6 copping another brutal spray before the Thursday night clash with the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Milford has been under fire for a long time with inconsistent performances since the 2015 season when the Broncos made the Grand Final and a bumper 2016 season.
Watch The 2021 NRL Telstra Premiership Live & On-Demand with No Ad-Breaks During Play. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
It earned him a four year deal worth a reported $1 million a season but he’s been far from his best since then.
Despite professing a willingness to stay at the club, Broncos coach Kevin Walters said yesterday that Milford was not playing well enough to earn another deal.
“That’s a work in progress, (but) right now you’d have to say no,” Walters told Channel 7 when asked if Milford was playing well enough to earn a new deal.
“We need to see Milf playing better but I’m extremely confident we can get the best out of Anthony Milford.
“As long as we keep building and getting better, taking the small steps … if and when I believe that stops happening, well then things will change.
“We’re backing him. He’s in there having a crack and that’s what I like about him, he’s fully aware of what’s going on and what’s required of him.”
‘Milford hasn’t been good in years’
3:04
It continues to apply the pressure on Milford but Walters is far from alone with his blunt assessment seemingly letting the half off easy compared to some.
Before the Broncos clash with the Rabbitohs, Fox League’s Yvonne Sampson asked Greg Alexander if the Broncos should persevere with Milford.
Having been outspoken in his belief that Milford should be cut loose from the club, Alexander immediately said “No.”
“Absolutely not,” he said. “$4 million? You almost don’t give him another dollar because he’s absolutely stole money from them for the last four years. That would be part of my thinking.”
Gorden Tallis butted in, joking “Is he paying them play for the next four years?”
“I don’t know,” Alexander continued. “He has not fired a shot for four years. Since the 2015 Grand Final, there has not been anything coming from Anthony Milford.
“I agree with Kevin Walters, he doesn’t deserve another contract, go and find another club unless we see a massive change. It’s got to be a massive change but this is contract year and we’ve seen that in the past too, I better aim up.”
Sampson said it was a “poor attitude” and Alexander added “It’s a shocking attitude”.
“You can’t have a club be successful if one of your key players has that attitude. ‘I’m not going to try for three years but in the fourth I’ll have a dig because that will earn me a new contract’.”
Broncos to make Dearden earn deal
1:14
Tallis said that it was a poor signing from the Raiders as Milford was an interchange player.
“He was a 14, he was bouncing around, he was playing a bit of fullback,” he said. “Then all of a sudden you go to Brisbane for a retiring Darren Lockyer, you’re the big dog and you’ve got to take control of the footy side. He doesn’t have it in him. He’s a natural ball runner and they’ve asked him to do something that he wasn’t capable of doing.
“I feel a bit sorry for Milf in that situation.”
But Alexander took another shot, saying he hasn’t even done what he’s good at.
“You wouldn’t say he’s busted his backside to lift Brisbane out of the hole they’re in,” he said. “A bit of enthusiasm.”
Michael Ennis said the Broncos are also out of time and “don’t have time to wait”.
It’s not the first time the Fox League team have taken a shot at Milford with Alexander and Ennis both sticking the boot in last week as well.
