An underrated positive about this signing is that genuine halves depth = Milford facing legitimate competition for his position for the first time in his entire NRL career. He's never really had anyone breathing down his neck before, the closest would've been Nikorima off the bench when we had Hunt, but he was always more of a utility than a threat to unseat Milford at Five-Eighth.
If Dearden is as good as the club thinks he is, he's going to be carving up the ISC, I also think Croft & Dearden are interchangeable and could potentially both play in the halves together if it came down to it. They're both good defensively for their size & age, they've both got accurate kicking games, they're both more than capable of running the football, same goes for O'Sullivan once he's back.
Additionally, Milford is getting close to the end of his current contract and is playing for his future with the club, if we're ever going to get the best out of Milford, it's going to be this season. He simply has to perform.
