The last time Anthony Milford played an NRL game was in Round 12 against the Melbourne Storm, but he was given the opportunity against the New Zealand Warriors to show what he’s got and he took his opportunity with both hands, scoring the try that sealed the Broncos’ win over the Warriors.
Milford looked a lot happier and a lot fitter on the field and he played like a happy NRL player but also he played like he had no expectations on him, which is good to see because the future Rabbitohs playmaker put on a show for the Broncos fans up at Suncorp.
Milford finished the game with two try assists which came early on in the second half, with Broncos winger Xavier Coates scoring a double. One try came off a high bomb from Milford and some magic gave Coates an easy passage to score in the corner for the other.
Milford scored the try in the 71st minute which sealed the win for the Broncos.
I felt so bad for Warriors fullback Reece Walsh because his goal kicking was so off today and it wasn’t even funny. The young custodian had five shots at goal and only managed to convert one of those kicks and had a chance to kick a two-point field goal in the dying seconds but his kick swayed left.
Broncos halfback Albert Kelly continued his very impressive form for the Broncos after scoring a try from a Tesi Niu kick. The Broncos fullback was very good with his 202 run metres and six tackle breaks, but he did have three errors.
Milford ran for 144 metres, broke five tackles, had one linebreak, two linebreak assists, two offloads, 423 kicking metres and only the one error.
Payne Haas is the best prop in the game right now and the NSW representative once again ran for over 200 metres, broke six tackles and forced his way through the line once with one offload as well.
Prop Addin Fonua-Blake was one of the Warriors’ best, making 38 tackles and having the most run metres in the game with 207.
The Broncos defence looked very resilient despite missing 28 tackles but the Warriors defence was poor. They missed 36 tackles, with halfback Chad Townsend and second row forward Josh Curran both missing five or more tackles individually.
The back five for the Warriors all ran for close to or just over 150 run metres, with only three of the Broncos back five running for over 100 metres.
The Warriors’ season is now officially over – they won’t be playing finals football in season 2021, but with the players they have obtained for next year, they can definitely be a threat in season 2022.
Loomy
Guest
The Broncos decline over the last few years is a big-brain move by the NRL to make it easier for supporters to jump ship to the new expansion club *insert big-brain meme*
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! Latrelle & Cody cop the focus there. He will only be the third wheel there if things don't go right.
Larry1950
Guest
Sorry Succhi, that will never happen unless he learns to tackle at Souths. He’s always been a grabber, hardly ever used the shoulders but that was offset by his creative brilliance, one he started to lose the flair his defensive deficiencies made him a target. Wayne had him for years & never cured that weakness so good luck to the Rabbitohs with Wayne’s assistant in charge.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
I think that $1m price tag on his head was too much of a burden for him to carry. I think he will have a good year at Souths and back in QLD SOS side next year.
steveng
Roar Rookie
IMO Milf's form is exactly what the Broncs have produced and done, when he started the Broncs were top notch and as the Broncs withered away so did Milf. Lets see what Milf can produce as what he produced yesterday we all know that he can do but, the only thing is if he can keep that up week in and week out?
Tony
Roar Guru
I wonder John whether Milford from being a smaller fish in a bigger pond next year at Souths?
Larry1950
Guest
Did the bunker give that final try to the warriors because they knocked back the similar effort in the first half? Ludicrous decision, wonder if Annesley backs him up in solidarity. Broncs know how to lose a game without assistance from a dodgy bunker official.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Milford is a “confidence player” hence when the pressure was a little less for him as the week to week expectation was lifted, he produced the form he was capable of. In recent years, the media have added a weight to some of the higher paid younger players such as Ash Taylor, Ben Hunt & labelling Anthony as “Million Dollar Milford”. Easy for fans to suggest that these players should disregard those comments however it’s not easy to continually perform at a high level to justify the corresponding pay packet as Teddy & to a lesser extent, DCE are able to do.
Dutski
Roar Guru
Really good to see Milford looking happy and playing good footy. Hope he can continue with that smile on his face.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
Hopefully Milf will be playing like this next year because the loss of Reynolds is a huge hole to fill at Souths