RUMOUR Anthony Milford to the Storm

[ZTop]

Could some one please get the Milford articles off Courier Mail please?

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Did anyone see Dobbo's report on Nein? Says Storm are offering the same cash as us, Cam Smith rang him to try and convince him. Dobbo reckons Milf loves being coached by Wayne but the lure of playing alongside Cronk (lol), Smith and Slater is tempting. In other words, Dobbo knows three parts of **** all but had to pad out a 90 second report.

 

[ZTop]

I reckon with the way we are taking so long to re-sign him he is as good as gone now

 

[Horseheadsup]

Seems like these contract merry-go- rounds get more attention than the actual games.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Storm in eleventh-hour play to prise Anthony Milford away from Broncos

THE Broncos remain confident of retaining Anthony Milford as six NRL rivals, including Melbourne, circle the Queensland Origin hopeful.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the battle for Milford’s signature goes beyond the Storm, with five other NRL suitors lodging expressions of interest in the Broncos ace.

Milford’s agent Sam Ayoub confirmed an approach from Melbourne, who are scouring the market for a big-name playmaker to replace Maroons halfback Cooper Cronk next season.

Broncos hierarchy were planning to announce Milford’s retention a fortnight ago after tabling a three-year deal worth $2.7 million — the richest in Brisbane’s history.

Milford has told Broncos powerbrokers he is keen to ink the extension as soon as possible, but the deal has been held up by uncertainty over the NRL’s salary cap from next season.

That has opened the door for the Storm, whose interest has yet to be converted into a formal offer.

The Milford poaching bid adds another spicy dimension to the relationship between Melbourne’s Craig Bellamy and Broncos super coach Wayne Bennett.

Bellamy was an assistant to Bennett at the Broncos in his rookie years but the pair butted heads almost a decade ago over Melbourne’s infamous grapple-tackle saga.

Milford would be the perfect replacement for Cronk, who will quit the Storm at season’s end, but Ayoub says his client’s preference is to remain at Red Hill.

“Everyone is trying to build it into something more than it is,” he said.

“I am trying not to manipulate this situation. Just because an inquiry has been made it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.

“Melbourne rang me about four or five days ago but they have made no offer at this stage. It would be silly to think there wouldn’t be interest in Anthony, but we’re continuing talks with the Broncos.

“His preference is to stay at the Broncos and it’s like Johnathan Thurston, he’s entrenched in North Queensland but it doesn’t mean clubs wouldn’t show interest in him when he’s available.

“I won’t be playing this through the media. An inquiry has been made and that’s the extent of it at the moment.”

Bennett told The Courier-Mail last month that Milford was struggling mentally with being off-contract at a volatile time in the player market. He conceded other clubs might try to tempt Milford with a more lucrative offer.

“There’s the issue whether you stay at the club or not and sometimes other clubs are chasing you with probably a lot more money than the club you’re at,” he said.

“Look at sport all around the world and no one has a chaotic system like we do. There are plenty of models we can take off and say ‘this is what we will do’ because it is what we need.”

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Anthony Milford to benefit as Storm make play for Broncos star

AT THE start of the season, Anthony Milford was an essential Broncos re-signing.
Nine rounds in, the quicksilver five-eighth is even more vital as a retention for 2018.

Milford left Canberra for the 2015 season to be among family, as big a consideration as playing for the Broncos, or being coached by Wayne Bennett, for that matter.

That hasn’t changed. The chance to work with Craig Bellamy and Cameron Smith aside, there are strong ties to Brisbane for off-contract Milford.

That aside, confirmation The Courier-Mail today that Melbourne has sounded out Milford’s manager Sam Ayoub is outstanding news for the Broncos playmaker.

So the outcome will likely be that Milford re-signs with the Broncos and is able to afford an even better beach house than the one he may have been contemplating.

Ben Hunt accepted a 2018 contract from St George Illawarra in the pre-season. While Jack Bird has been signed to add to Brisbane’s backline quality, it would not stand for the Broncos to have to go to the market to replace a second playmaker in 12 months.

As Oscar Wilde once reckoned about parents: “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness”.

Milford and Hunt were, according to Darren Lockyer after their 2016 finals exit, the playmaking tandem to take the club eventually to a premiership.

Rugby league’s new “Hunt index’’ — comparing prices for key-position players coming off contract with Hunt’s $1.2 million a year with the Dragons — values Milford, who turns 23 in July, at more than $1 million.

He won’t receive that at the Broncos. He’s unlikely to field that sort of money at the Storm. Both clubs can still get away with offering less than some rivals without the quality of teammates amassed at Red Hill and Melbourne.

With Milford retained, the Broncos would then be able to dig in for 2018 with Milford and Bird in the halves, or, even better, Milford at No. 7 and Darius Boyd at No.6.

The Broncos have no apparent concern that Boyd’s re-signing will eventually be pushed over the line.

Boyd will go into the final stage of those talks armed with the knowledge that Bennett called him a long-term captain when the appointment was announced in February, not exactly someone who can be handed a cut-price offer.

 

[pagey]

Didn't someone say the storm were chasing jnik ?

 

[ZTop]

Actually Storm have apparently been chasing lots of players lately.

 

[Super Freak]

Milford will stay.

These things take time. Remember how long it took to re-sign Kahu, Glenn and Thaiday in 2015?

There is so much uncertainty about the cap next year and the NRL would be more rigorous with TPA's after the whole Eels debacle last year.

He wants to stay. He doesn't even want to talk to other clubs. He will re-sign. Storm haven't even made him an offer according to his manager and I'm not sure why he would lie about that.. If you're trying to get more money then surely you would mention they made an offer.

 

[KnToad]

Seems like these contract merry-go- rounds get more attention than the actual games.

THIS!!!

I am sick of it.
How the fck did we get to a situation where players are signing all over the shop a year before they go???
All the media have been talking about for weeks now is where is Hunt, Bird, Widdop, Foran, Woods, Tedesco, Brooks, Moses, Reynolds, etc, etc, etc going?? and how much they are getting to go there...
Come Monday when they should be talking about the tries, kicks, tackles, skills all we hear about is the next fkn contract saga.
All because apparently a footballer who earns more in a year than I earn in 5 years can't possibly move his life, kids, house, blah blah blah in 2 months while getting everything done for him by the football team he is moving to...
It's a FCKING JOKE.......
The NRL have managed to make a balls-up of nearly everything they have handled in the last couple of years from punching to contracts to rep football to refs and the list goes on and on and on.
I just want to watch great footy played by great footy players playing for great footy teams in the worlds best footy comp.
When I'm not doing the above I want to watch highlights and hear discussions about the best/worst tries/tackles/calls/kicks/plays of the weekend and look forward to who's gonna do it next weekend
Nobody wants to see their favourite player sign for a rival, sometimes passionately hated, team a year before they are going to even pull on their new jersey and all the bullshit carry ons about who's gonna play where NEXT YEAR.
What about THIS YEAR?? did I blink? Is it over already??
NO MORE - FIX IT NRL before I blow a puffer valve!!!

 

[BruiserMk1]

The whole point of Milf moving to Brisbane was to be closer to his family anyway.

 

[Accept]

The whole point of Milf moving to Brisbane was to be closer to his family anyway.

That was rubbish. It was only an excuse to get out of his contract at Canberra. If Melb throw a few million bucks at him, his family would be the first ones encouraging him to go for it.

 

[Mr Fourex]

...in your opinion.

 

[Super Freak]

That was rubbish. It was only an excuse to get out of his contract at Canberra. If Melb throw a few million bucks at him, his family would be the first ones encouraging him to go for it.

Do you know how much money Canberra were going to throw at him to get him to stay?

If his reasoning was money, he wouldn't be here right now. He'll still be in Canberra.

 

[Accept]

Do you know how much money Canberra were going to throw at him to get him to stay?

If his reasoning was money, he wouldn't be here right now. He'll still be in Canberra.

Money seems to be a motivating factor for him now, enough so that he has met with Storm mgmt and toured their facilities. Regardless of all that, he isn't going anywhere and if he does, life goes on.

 

[Super Freak]

Money seems to be a motivating factor for him now, enough so that he has met with Storm mgmt and toured their facilities. Regardless of all that, he isn't going anywhere and if he does, life goes on.

Where has it been said that he met with Storm management?

 

[Danoz Direct]

 

[Super Freak]

The same guy that said Storm have made a play for Milford despite his manager confirming they haven't even made an offer. Just made a call.

This is all just a media beat up.