NEWS Walters warns: Milford might come back

Don't celebrate just yet. Kevin Walters jokes Anthony Milford's banishment to the ISC might only be a temporary glitch in the simulation:

“I want to make it clear I haven‘t given up on Milf. If we are going to improve, I need to make the hard calls and ensure everyone wants to get better and if that happens, the team will benefit. I know Milf is copping a lot of criticism, but I honestly believe I can work with Anthony and get him firing again. It has to come from Milf, too. It has to come from within. He needs to have the desire and hunger, I’ve seen it in him in the past, so hopefully he can fight back and have a good career at the Broncos.”

Hunger and desire

“I sat down with Anthony and I took him through a few things I needed him to work on. It‘s my job as coach to get him back performing. There’s a few things Milf needs to work on, his kicking is a key area that has to be addressed, but everything about his game can be better. To Anthony‘s credit, he took it well. He understood my reasoning and he took it like a man, which I respected."

All going to plan

“During my career as a player, it was a regular occurrence for players to get dropped to reserve grade if you didn’t perform. That’s the way it was. I’m sure Anthony can respond to what I want. You talk about his contract ... well that’s what I’m trying to do, I’m searching for ways to get him back to his best football."

“I want Milf to go back to the Intrust and work on a few things in his game. At his best, he has special things in his game. I told him to go back and be the Anthony Milford which we haven‘t seen for a while. I want him to get some confidence back. My hope is that he gets better there and if he does that, I will bring him back into the team. It‘s up to Anthony how long he stays in Intrust. It will be longer than a week, but I need him playing well and we‘ll put the support around him to get back to the NRL. Ultimately, he has to drive it.”

McHunt

 

[Huge]

Milf was one half away from slaying the Eels singlehandedly. After that he has been quite but not that awful as the media have been making out. Quiet or not, he is still a threat with ball in hand or via his boot and the team is made weaker just to appease the critics.

Another angle to this, is that Kevvie is caving in to Dearden and his manager regarding the 'play me or I leave' ultimatum. If this is the case, I don't know what the Broncos are anymore

Not saying you're wrong but there's probably more angles. It's pretty well accepted that Milford has been poor to average for the bulk of the last few years. Never getting dropped hasn't helped and like a mechanic solving a mystery lapse in performance you have to cross potential problems off the list.
That being the case a coach should see if this kind of remedy fixes a problem.

 

[PNG Broncos fan88]

Not saying you're wrong but there's probably more angles. It's pretty well accepted that Milford has been poor to average for the bulk of the last few years. Never getting dropped hasn't helped and like a mechanic solving a mystery lapse in performance you have to cross potential problems off the list.
That being the case a coach should see if this kind of remedy fixes a problem.

I truly hope it does but Milf's contribution sees us being on the road moving forward with 4 wheels.
With him(and our entire kicking game) out, it's like we are on 3 wheels now with his needed wheel replaced by the rim.

 

[Huge]

I truly hope it does but Milf's contribution sees us being on the road moving forward with 4 wheels.
With him(and our entire kicking game) out, it's like we are on 3 wheels now with his needed wheel replaced by the rim.

Bit dramatic but I get it. Croft Dearden is not as bad as you might believe. If you look at the three games they played together last year they actually were pretty good for complete halves of those games. I mean against(last year) top 4 teams, Melbourne, Souths and Canberra they held their own for long periods. When you consider we had injuries galore and a rudderless Seiplod, well it's not as bad as at first glance.

 

[theshed]

Milf was one half away from slaying the Eels singlehandedly. After that he has been quite but not that awful as the media have been making out. Quiet or not, he is still a threat with ball in hand or via his boot and the team is made weaker just to appease the critics.

Another angle to this, is that Kevvie is caving in to Dearden and his manager regarding the 'play me or I leave' ultimatum. If this is the case, I don't know what the Broncos are anymore

Milf hasn’t been terrible individually I suppose but his 5th tackle options (apart from the very odd brilliant kick) has put the whole team on the back foot time and time again and has snuffed any momentum they were able to create. Running it on the 5th, kicking it dead, kicking into defenders - almost every 5th tackle option form him has been the wrong one. Yes he is far more skilled than Dearden or Croft (especially) but hopefully a poor attempt at the right option is better than the wrong option.

It is dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t but Kev can’t have players in his team ignoring his directives. That’s how Seibold lost the dressing room.

 

[McHunt]

Milf was one half away from slaying the Eels singlehandedly. After that he has been quite but not that awful as the media have been making out. Quiet or not, he is still a threat with ball in hand or via his boot and the team is made weaker just to appease the critics.

Another angle to this, is that Kevvie is caving in to Dearden and his manager regarding the 'play me or I leave' ultimatum. If this is the case, I don't know what the Broncos are anymore

Consensus amongst fans (present company's exception duly noted), past players and commentators is that Dearden should've been the starting half from week one and Milford given a few weeks to prove he's not a spent force. Walters didn't cave to that and went the more strategic route, starting with his weakest line-up and eliminating the weakest links as they became obviously broken. Had it gone the opposite way, we'd have Milford in reserves, fans calling for Croft to be dropped and would've arrived back at the beginning - trying to work around a broken Milford.

Unless Milford really carves it up in the ISC, he's gone from the club. That's solved. No offer. We go to the market for a new senior half. Croft is contracted for another year so we might as well see what we can get out of that.

And Dearden now needs to be given the full reins to see whether he's worth investing in for the long term. Had he been back in the ISC, he'd still be in that twilight zone of not quite knowing, and we could not really justify a bidding war as happened with Fifita, Hunt and Walsh. Dearden is on trial for his future now. And if he falls short, we aren't going to give the club grief for looking elsewhere.

I would put money on us securing a rep standard half for next season to pair with Dearden or Croft. But first we need to sign Staggs - who we want as centre anyway - and give him a chance to strut his stuff in the halves. Good chance that won't work out.

Relying on Staggs to be our premiership winning five eighth, and letting Dearden go for Staggs to partner Reynolds, Munster, Widdop or whoever is a tough call. He might be a flop. But he can always go back to centre. Thus Staggs not being fit is a massive contract hurdle for us. It may be that it costs us Dearden because we have no choice but to retain Croft, who is likely no better than a backup option.

It would be in the club's best interest to trade Croft away and retain Dearden on a short contract. But I can't see either going for that.

 

[TheGreatCornholio7]

I hope Milford gets his confidence back in the Q cup and comes back better than ever in a few weeks, however even if he does that I still wouldn't re-sign him.

 

[Midean]

I hope Croft and Dearden kill it for the rest of the season and we never see Milford tarnishing a Bronco jersey ever again.

 

[PNG Broncos fan88]

Consensus amongst fans (present company's exception duly noted), past players and commentators is that Dearden should've been the starting half from week one and Milford given a few weeks to prove he's not a spent force. Walters didn't cave to that and went the more strategic route, starting with his weakest line-up and eliminating the weakest links as they became obviously broken. Had it gone the opposite way, we'd have Milford in reserves, fans calling for Croft to be dropped and would've arrived back at the beginning - trying to work around a broken Milford.

Unless Milford really carves it up in the ISC, he's gone from the club. That's solved. No offer. We go to the market for a new senior half. Croft is contracted for another year so we might as well see what we can get out of that.

And Dearden now needs to be given the full reins to see whether he's worth investing in for the long term. Had he been back in the ISC, he'd still be in that twilight zone of not quite knowing, and we could not really justify a bidding war as happened with Fifita, Hunt and Walsh. Dearden is on trial for his future now. And if he falls short, we aren't going to give the club grief for looking elsewhere.

I would put money on us securing a rep standard half for next season to pair with Dearden or Croft. But first we need to sign Staggs - who we want as centre anyway - and give him a chance to strut his stuff in the halves. Good chance that won't work out.

Relying on Staggs to be our premiership winning five eighth, and letting Dearden go for Staggs to partner Reynolds, Munster, Widdop or whoever is a tough call. He might be a flop. But he can always go back to centre. Thus Staggs not being fit is a massive contract hurdle for us. It may be that it costs us Dearden because we have no choice but to retain Croft, who is likely no better than a backup option.

It would be in the club's best interest to trade Croft away and retain Dearden on a short contract. But I can't see either going for that.

He had full reins of the team since Croft got punted in rnd 10 2020 against the Tigers. Half a season where we did not win a single game and F/A got rimmed by -200 landing us at dead last.
Not saying that the 20yr old is the reason we got the spoon, but there were a lot of other factors at that time Boyd/Seibold/injuries/Covid/6 agains/youngest team/no captain/[insert excuse]

But anyway here we are again, 20 more rounds to go and another go at the reins. GO DEARDEN!

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I hope Croft and Dearden kill it for the rest of the season and we never see Milford tarnishing a Bronco jersey ever again.

I wouldn't count on the former, but I think the latter is almost guaranteed short of an injury crisis.

 

[BroncsFan]

I will be interested to see the kicking game this week.

I hope to see Dearden as the primary kicker and not Croft.

Dearden had a couple kicks last week to suggest he probably does have a reasonably big boot. At one point in the first half Milf was caught with the ball on 4th well inside our own half and Dearden put in a torp from about 35m that got to the opposition 20m line. The fullback caught it on the full (always going to happen when you have zero momentum on the last), but it showed he can put in a decent kick when required.

The second kick of note was a kick for touch late in the game. I think we got a penalty around the 15m mark and Dearden got it up to the 45-50m. He took it pretty quickly and comfortably as well. This is in contrast to Isaako typically be the touch finder on penalties, because he has the biggest boot... or meekly getting 15m or so on a touch finder from Croft or Milf

To me it suggests that Dearden may have a competent kicking game, but he's never really been trusted as the primary kicker (perhaps to reduce the pressure on his inexperienced shoulders).

We've largely seen Croft's kicking game and he doesnt seem to have the biggest boot, which becomes an issue in the current NRL.

Nowadays it's almost a must to have a smart kicker with a big boot, because if you're trapped in your own end, you can no longer count on getting penalties to get down the other end of the field, but a big kicker can get it down there past the fullback and provide instant field position.

Think Cleary, Moses, Reynolds, etc. who can quickly change momentum with a long clearing kick and strong kick chase. The storm and roosters appear to be a bit of an anomaly as I wouldn't class any of their kickers as having a big boot, but they are so good at winning the ruck that they're pretty well making 50m a set and rarely kicking from deep inside their own half.

I think this next little passage of the year may allow Dearden to take ownership of the team.

There's no Milf to lean on and a relatively healthy side compared to last year where Milf was injured (along with half the squad), Croft's confidence was absolutely shot and the morale of the team as a whole was completely in the gutter... but even through that Dearden was providing a shining light and showing what he can produce in games like at home against Sharks and Rabbitohs away... which were well and truly there for the taking before the team inevitably collapsed around him

 

[McHunt]

He had full reins of the team since Croft got punted in rnd 10 2020 against the Tigers. Half a season where we did not win a single game and F/A got rimmed by -200 landing us at dead last.
Not saying that the 20yr old is the reason we got the spoon, but there were a lot of other factors at that time Boyd/Seibold/injuries/Covid/6 agains/youngest team/no captain/[insert excuse]

But anyway here we are again, 20 more rounds to go and another go at the reins. GO DEARDEN!

The team was mentally spent well before Dearden came back, and from my recollection he looked the closest we had to a captain when he did. We seem to have very different recollections of the last few games because I thought he was one of the few who lifted the team. He had to work with Milford and Boyd FFS. Walters hit the reset when he took over. He's still raking through the roster figuring out who needs to go. One of which might be Dearden but I doubt he's reached that conclusion yet. On the other hand, the club's tardiness in securing Dearden suggests they're still not sold.

 

[McHunt]

I will be interested to see the kicking game this week.

I hope to see Dearden as the primary kicker and not Croft.

I think this next little passage of the year may allow Dearden to take ownership of the team.

Same. I don't think Dearden's long kicking game is anywhere near mature yet. But as I've said elsewhere neither was Alfie's. But his short game was beyond compare. Croft's been fucked around and called a **** so much I think the nerves have got to him. That kick last week, the poor bastard. I felt bad for him. No one is rooting for him. He has everything to prove.

What you will get from Croft, unlike Milford, is 100% effort. He will bust his guts out there for us. It's all we can ask at this stage.

 

[Waynesaurus]

Same. I don't think Dearden's long kicking game is anywhere near mature yet. But as I've said elsewhere neither was Alfie's. But his short game was beyond compare. Croft's been fucked around and called a **** so much I think the nerves have got to him. That kick last week, the poor bastard. I felt bad for him. No one is rooting for him. He has everything to prove.

What you will get from Croft, unlike Miford, is 100% effort. He will bust his guts out there for us. It's all we can ask at this stage.

And he is he only one that is running in support waiting for a break or an offload.

 

[BroncsFan]

He had full reins of the team since Croft got punted in rnd 10 2020 against the Tigers. Half a season where we did not win a single game and F/A got rimmed by -200 landing us at dead last.
Not saying that the 20yr old is the reason we got the spoon, but there were a lot of other factors at that time Boyd/Seibold/injuries/Covid/6 agains/youngest team/no captain/[insert excuse]

But anyway here we are again, 20 more rounds to go and another go at the reins. GO DEARDEN!

As mentioned in my above post I'm hoping the team environment Dearden is coming into this year is vastly different to the one he came into last year.

I think last year he came into the team in round 11 after the absolute capitulation against tigers. In that game Croft had well and truly shit the bed and his confidence was absolutely shot.

I think Milf was thrown into fullback against the storm with an obvious hammy issue and soon after he was out for the year.

So basically Dearden came in at a severe low point for the team as a whole and for the most part he was partnered with Croft who was absolutely copping it from the media and looked pretty well done for the year. I think he got dropped for SOS at one point only for SOS to then get injured and him having to come straight back in.

At least this year the squad is relatively healthy (although the backline looks horrendous) and Croft has looked a little more involved compared to the shell that he became during the tigers game.

I think we are also playing a bit better this year compared to last and I'm putting very little value on the form line of the last 2 weeks given the covid bubble and being isolated in a hotel room for 2 weeks.

We have been mostly competitive before that so hopefully we can put in a decent show at home to lift the spirits a little... it would've been nice to have a let up in the draw at this point to rebuild some confidence, but NSWRL gonna use every opportunity they can to keep us down so that's never going to happen

 

[McHunt]

And he is he only one that is running in support waiting for a break or an offload.

Exactly. This is the biggest symptom of our malaise. You'd see someone like Haas, TPJ or Riki charging to the line and fucking Milford would hang back behind Turpin waiting for him to slot into dummy half expecting a surrender. If every fucker going forward is expected to offload the ball at any second we'd score three times the tries and put a whole lot more stress on defensive lines.

Isaako, Niu and Farnworth also need to lift their games in support.

 

[McHunt]

As mentioned in my above post I'm hoping the team environment Dearden is coming into this year is vastly different to the one he came into last year.

I think last year he came into the team in round 11 after the absolute capitulation against tigers. In that game Croft had well and truly shit the bed and his confidence was absolutely shot.

At least this year the squad is relatively healthy (although the backline looks horrendous) and Croft has looked a little more involved compared to the shell that he became during the tigers game.

Yes, good on Kevvie for giving Croft another chance in my book. However it ends up.

 

[McHunt]

Walters is surprised Milford hasn't spat the dummy and fucked off by now:

“The pressure he’s received in the five years since that game, it’s a lot to take on for a young man and I do feel sorry for Milf. In some regards he’s been accused of everything that’s happened here and it’s really unfair. When you look at it, the scrutiny and pressure he’s been under, it’s amazing that he’s still playing the game.”

“It’s probably a question (whether renewing his pension is a distraction) I shouldn’t answer; I don’t know how to answer that one so I won’t. More than any other he has been singled out but now the pressure’s off, he can go back, play his footy (in the Queensland Cup). It’ll be an interesting next four weeks for Anthony and where he’s at, mentally and physically.”

Greg Alexander never gets old:

"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.”

McHunt

Full press conference here, also discusses Dearden, Oates and Staggs:

Walters: Pressure almost forced Milford to walk away from NRL

Brisbane coach Kevin Walters says Anthony Milford has carried the pressure as the Broncos highest paid player and unfairly worn most of the blame for their poor recent seasons

www.nrl.com

 

[abashii]

It is dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t but Kev can’t have players in his team ignoring his directives. That’s how Seibold lost the dressing room.

Fatso lost the dressing room way before that - sending McGuire packing while sooking in the media about bad boy Benny talking team and tactics with Souths, that stupid burn the boats bullshit, turning up with a list of blokes to **** off, belittling some players for not understanding the gibberish he spewed while playing favourites, not knowing how to adjust his coaching to the team he had, and being a big fat useless waste of skin who couldn't coach his way out of a wet paper bag for all the pies in Christendom all contributed to his papers being stamped early on in the piece.