NEWS Milford primed for 6 of the best next to Croft

[McHunt]

Of course he knew. Doesn't mean he could do anything about it though. It's far easier at the start of 2019 to try and work with him than to try and offload him given his contract at that point was probably well beyond what anyone else would pick up.

I'm not bagging Milford, so no need to jump in and rush to defend him here. I'm simply saying we have no real idea how keen Seibold his on him and we won't know that until it comes time to renew his current deal. I also don't think Milford's upcoming season will determine Seibold's job security, as Milford was not his choice and his being here is not really in the Coach's control, he was also realistically already on a bit of a downward trend before Seibold came along.

If Seibold cuts him and he goes on to kill it elsewhere and his replacement doesn't, then thats a different story. Also a different story if he re-signs Milford and we continue to get diminishing returns out of him going forward. That's the point at which their futures will be tied together, not before.

I very much doubt Milford could play so badly the blame will all fall on him. If the attack looks as rudderless as it increasingly became this year under the Seibold plan, I think the coach will start copping the flack. Even with the perfectly reasonable excuse of injuries, we could all see it was less than a sum of the players.

I'm excited to see what Croft can bring to the side, but he's not the million dollar man.

 

[Kooly87]

I very much doubt Milford could play so badly the blame will all fall on him. If the attack looks as rudderless as it increasingly became this year under the Seibold plan, I think the coach will start copping the flack. Even with the perfectly reasonable excuse of injuries, we could all see it was less than a sum of the players.

I'm not saying he'll play the blame game or that it could be all his fault. Of course it won't be. Honestly I think he's done a commendable job in a role he was never suited for. He's a far more rounded player than when we got him. I'm just not sure he's really become a much 'better' player if that makes sense. He's certainly not what we could call good value right now.

He's now been given the support though that he supposedly needed in a proper Halfback, so I think there is some pressure on him now to show that he still has the magic that bought him to Brisbane in the first place. I don't expect to see it come back overnight, but over the course of a full season, provided Croft can do his job properly too, I think the club really needs to see it at some point before too long.

He is on a very sizeable deal. The largest we've ever offered. This is up for renewal soon and even if he doesn't play poorly, he's going to need to do a lot more than just play okay or a little better than okay to justify us renewing it.

 

[broncsgoat]

Of course he knew. Doesn't mean he could do anything about it though. It's far easier at the start of 2019 to try and work with him than to try and offload him given his contract at that point was probably well beyond what anyone else would pick up.

I'm not bagging Milford, so no need to jump in and rush to defend him here. I'm simply saying we have no real idea how keen Seibold his on him and we won't know that until it comes time to renew his current deal. I also don't think Milford's upcoming season will determine Seibold's job security, as Milford was not his choice and his being here is not really in the Coach's control, he was also realistically already on a bit of a downward trend before Seibold came along.

If Seibold cuts him and he goes on to kill it elsewhere and his replacement doesn't, then thats a different story. Also a different story if he re-signs Milford and we continue to get diminishing returns out of him going forward. That's the point at which their futures will be tied together, not before.

I’m not really defending or attacking anyone. But if you put your hand up for a job you can’t really complain about inheriting anyone. He left a quality spine and voluntarily chose to work with ours

 

[Kooly87]

I’m not really defending or attacking anyone. But if you put your hand up for a job you can’t really complain about inheriting anyone. He left a quality spine and voluntarily chose to work with ours

Where did he complain about inheriting Milford? I certainly never said that. I've said repeatedly that we have no real idea how he feels about inheriting Milford. For all we know he could be a huge fan.

The original statement was that if Milford failed to fire at 5/8 that Seibold would be on the chopping block. I simply said I don't buy that at all, as he has almost no choice but to play him at 5/8 for better or worse until his contract is complete and that Milford's success or failure either way can't really, in isolation, be used to put Seibold out on his ass.

 

[McHunt]

I'm not saying he'll play the blame game or that it could be all his fault. Of course it won't be. Honestly I think he's done a commendable job in a role he was never suited for. He's a far more rounded player than when we got him. I'm just not sure he's really become a much 'better' player if that makes sense. He's certainly not what we could call good value right now.

He's now been given the support though that he supposedly needed in a proper Halfback, so I think there is some pressure on him now to show that he still has the magic that bought him to Brisbane in the first place. I don't expect to see it come back overnight, but over the course of a full season, provided Croft can do his job properly too, I think the club really needs to see it at some point before too long.

He is on a very sizeable deal. The largest we've ever offered. This is up for renewal soon and even if he doesn't play poorly, he's going to need to do a lot more than just play okay or a little better than okay to justify us renewing it.

I’m not really defending or attacking anyone. But if you put your hand up for a job you can’t really complain about inheriting anyone. He left a quality spine and voluntarily chose to work with ours

Milford reminds me a bit of one of my favourite players of all time: Matty Bowen. Remember how unbelievable he was? And yet, he still fell short because he didn't quite have all the pieces he needed.

I haven't been convinced Milford has all the pieces needed to be a 6, but sending him back to 1 wasn't the answer either. Maybe this is where a good coach comes in.

 

[Kooly87]

Milford reminds me a bit of one of my favourite players of all time: Matty Bowen. Remember how unbelievable he was? And yet, he still fell short because he didn't quite have all the pieces he needed.

I haven't been convinced Milford has all the pieces needed to be a 6, but sending him back to 1 wasn't the answer either. Maybe this is where a good coach comes in.

To be fair, Bowen often had numbers that suggested he was a far better player than people remembered or perceived for whatever reason. His failure to kick on and have major success was really more to do with the Cowboys not having all the necessary pieces at the time and that the Queensland and Australian side already had Hunt and Slater pretty firmly entrenched.

You can't really say that for Milford now though. The Broncos side is now looking fairly stacked for talent, just needing a special player to spark their charge for a Premiership, and Queensland could desperately use a star in the 5/8 jumper. This is the easiest time to make a spot in the Queensland spine your own in over 15 years. If Milford fails to capitalise on both those opportunities long term, it won't be because better players were in his way.

 

[broncsgoat]

Milfs a top 5 player at 6 and is as good as Keary when he’s on. I just don’t know who we’re going to try and recruit that’s better if seibs can’t make him work .
He has a lot more runs on the board as a player than seibs does as a coach.
Again.... not attacking anyone.

 

[Kooly87]

Milfs a top 5 player at 6 and is as good as Keary when he’s on. I just don’t know who we’re going to try and recruit that’s better if seibs can’t make him work .
He has a lot more runs on the board as a player than seibs does as a coach.
Again.... not attacking anyone.

Milford hasn't really been 'on' for basically two seasons now. Not all of that is his fault, but some of it absolutely is. 'Top 5' quality 5/8's don't get overlooked by a bog average Corey Norman for an Origin jersey.

It's about what you can get for your money. Milford at his best would be great value, but if his best is sporadic and increasingly infrequent, then we can probably find someone that will cost a lot less money to produce a pretty similar result.

900k buys you a lot of footballer in whatever position you choose to invest those funds, 5/8 or otherwise.

 

[broncsgoat]

Milford hasn't really been 'on' for basically two seasons now. Not all of that is his fault, but some of it absolutely is. 'Top 5' quality 5/8's don't get overlooked by a bog average Corey Norman for an Origin jersey.

It's about what you can get for your money. Milford at his best would be great value, but if his best is sporadic and increasingly infrequent, then we can probably find someone that will cost a lot less money to produce a pretty similar result.

900k buys you a lot of footballer in whatever position you choose to invest those funds, 5/8 or otherwise.

While I’m not attacking anyone this morning, I definitely have in the past about my thoughts on how milf was utilised this year, the year he was overlooked for Norman, as opposed to previous years when he wasn’t. I guess you could buy a $500k 5/8 and spend the money elsewhere but I don’t think we’re going to win with a $500k 5/8 and Croft in the halves.

 

[McHunt]

To be fair, Bowen often had numbers that suggested he was a far better player than people remembered or perceived for whatever reason. His failure to kick on and have major success was really more to do with the Cowboys not having all the necessary pieces at the time and that the Queensland and Australian side already had Hunt and Slater pretty firmly entrenched.

You can't really say that for Milford now though. The Broncos side is now looking fairly stacked for talent, just needing a special player to spark their charge for a Premiership, and Queensland could desperately use a star in the 5/8 jumper. This is the easiest time to make a spot in the Queensland spine your own in over 15 years. If Milford fails to capitalise on both those opportunities long term, it won't be because better players were in his way.

There were a couple of pieces that Miford, and Bowen before him, lack by the nature of their size. In Rugby Union you can somewhat get away with hiding a short guy at fullback, because his remit is to gather the ball and kick it out on the full to a round of applause. In League, not so much. You're more likely to be found out as the last line of defence, and you also need to be able to jump. In both codes, you have to accept being pummelled in the process. Suffice to say, it's a nightmare.

Having played there in both codes, and being neither tall nor a great defender, I felt like a fraud in League. It was much easier to hide my less than stellar defence at 5/8th. In union, I could go an entire game without having to tackle some enormous fucker running at me full belt. In league, it would happen constantly but there were always two other players to help put them on the deck.

I can see why Milford would prefer it in the halves.

 

[Kooly87]

While I’m not attacking anyone this morning, I definitely have in the past about my thoughts on how milf was utilised this year, the year he was overlooked for Norman, as opposed to previous years when he wasn’t. I guess you could buy a $500k 5/8 and spend the money elsewhere but I don’t think we’re going to win with a $500k 5/8 and Croft in the halves.

Canberra almost did it this year. If we had two above average Halves and an elite Dummy Half like Canberra, or even an elite Fullback, I think we could definitely be a threat. Personally, I'd rather put 900k into an elite Dummy Half the way the modern game is going.
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There were a couple of pieces that Miford, and Bowen before him, lack by the nature of their size. In Rugby Union you can somewhat get away with hiding a short guy at fullback, because his remit is to gather the ball and kick it out on the full to a round of applause. In League, not so much. You're more likely to be found out as the last line of defence, and you also need to be able to jump. In both codes, you have to accept being pummelled in the process. Suffice to say, it's a nightmare.

Having played there in both codes, and being neither tall nor a great defender, I felt like a fraud in League. It was much easier to hide my less than stellar defence at 5/8th. In union, I could go an entire game without having to tackle some enormous fucker running at me full belt. In league, it would happen constantly but there were always two other players to help put them on the deck.

I can see why Milford would prefer it in the halves.

Bowen's defence was better than we choose to remember or give him credit for. People have this perception I guess that he defenced poorly, but he had seasons where his numbers suggested he defenced better than both Slater and Hunt at various times, and those two guys are absolute elite Fullback's in the modern era.

 

[broncsgoat]

For the record I'm expecting milf to light it up this year. May even give seibs some credit when it happens.

 

[McHunt]

May even give seibs some credit

 

[Morepudding]

Milfs a top 5 player at 6 and is as good as Keary when he’s on. I just don’t know who we’re going to try and recruit that’s better if seibs can’t make him work [emoji2373].
He has a lot more runs on the board as a player than seibs does as a coach.
Again.... not attacking anyone.

I agree. Think of it this way, next year Keary is tipped to move to 7. That would likely leave Milford as what, the second best six in the game? Behind Munster? And I'm not that sold on Munster. All the other good halves, Keary, Moses, DCE etc are sevens.

Nikorima isn't even going to make the warriors team next year the way it's looking. Seibold has done a fantastic job with roster management in my opinion. When he signed, he had multiple players on long term deals that he didn't want. He's successfully moved on a bunch of those players and retained everyone of importance thus far. Seibold can't be judged while bird and Boyd are on the books as far as I'm concerned because they are occupying a huge amount of cap and were here before he signed and their form hasn't justified anyone else wanting to get them either.

Once Boyd and probably Bird are off the books, hopefully end of 2020, then he is more accountable. If you went up to any other NRL team and asked them to do well with essentially $600k worth of player occupying $1.6m (throwing $1m out the door), they probably wouldn't do well either.

 

[broncsgoat]

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Pie in the sky stuff I know

 

[Big Pete]

I agree. Think of it this way, next year Keary is tipped to move to 7. That would likely leave Milford as what, the second best six in the game? Behind Munster? And I'm not that sold on Munster. All the other good halves, Keary, Moses, DCE etc are sevens.

I haven't come across anything to suggest Keary is being shifted to halfback. At this stage, the halves are set to be Keary/Flanagan. Even if that doesn't work out and if Mitchell ends up honouring his final year, you will still see Keary lining up on the same spot on the field as Milford.

Otherwise it's an interesting point and I agree that Milford isn't far off. The way things stand though you've got Luke Keary, Cameron Munster, Cody Walker and Jack Wighton ahead of him. You could make a case for Michael Morgan, Corey Norman and Benji Marshall as well. I don't think Milford can rest on his laurels either with some of the talent coming through. Dylan Brown, Jarome Luai, Matt Burton etc. could all have break out years. Even players like Dylan Walker and Shaun Johnson are capable on their day.

I really need to go back and watch Cody Walker and Luke Keary closely. For mine they are the bench mark and I'm curious to see what they do that seperates them from Milford.

 

[Painin the Haas]

I haven't come across anything to suggest Keary is being shifted to halfback. At this stage, the halves are set to be Keary/Flanagan. Even if that doesn't work out and if Mitchell ends up honouring his final year, you will still see Keary lining up on the same spot on the field as Milford.

Otherwise it's an interesting point and I agree that Milford isn't far off. The way things stand though you've got Luke Keary, Cameron Munster, Cody Walker and Jack Wighton ahead of him. You could make a case for Michael Morgan, Corey Norman and Benji Marshall as well. I don't think Milford can rest on his laurels either with some of the talent coming through. Dylan Brown, Jarome Luai, Matt Burton etc. could all have break out years. Even players like Dylan Walker and Shaun Johnson are capable on their day.

I really need to go back and watch Cody Walker and Luke Keary closely. For mine they are the bench mark and I'm curious to see what they do that seperates them from Milford.

Other than they have reliable halfbacks directing highly structured/drilled teams?

 

[Big Pete]

Other than they have reliable halfbacks directing highly structured/drilled teams?

That would be one theory, but I'm keen to actually see it for myself. You can miss a lot about a player's performance when you don't break it all down.