Kodi has played about half as many first grade games as milford, only one of those seasons you could argue he had any substantial time in a position, my expectations on him are to focus on gaining experience, improving as a player overtime. To expect him to carry the bulk of the playmaking responsibilities over the more experienced playmaker is unrealistic at present, if he cements himself for 2019, then expectations will change.
As for Milford being our x-factor player and we shouldn't expect anymore from him to develop such skills because it might effect his x-factor I find that to be a cop out. So was Langer(who BTW Bennett had to push to add more traits to his halfback resume, not relying so heavily on x factor). So was Lockyer(who like O'Neill had superior kicking and playmaking skills at fullback despite not even being primary playmakers from there 2000 the exception for Lockyer). Even Walters had a quality underrated running game and could be a match winner, but they all possessed, quality, reliable kicking and playmaking skills required to win the critical matches. The only 5/8th or halfback in one of our premiership teams that didn't possess those playmaking traits would be Ben Ikin, but even then we still had the luxury of Walters and Lockyer to handle it for him. We don't have the luxury of expecting just one player to handle the responsibilities in the present situation, lumping that on Kodi while giving Milford a free pass doesn't cut it if we seriously want to be a competition threat. 3 seasons in a starting position with the club isn't unrealistic to want to see him grow in other areas.
Way to misquote me. I never said I don't expect Milford to grow/develop his skills, which would be silly, because that should be the expectation on any player. That is totally different from expecting him to become the team's tactician and leader, something not even Locky ever was.
Locky was a talented freak, but only became the leader, the captain, the inspiration, in the second half of his career, after 7 years at Fullback and about 2 years as Five-eight (2006 was his coming of age).
And even then, he always left the bulk of the organisation to his halfback, generally a player whom complemented Locky's skills (Perry, Wallace) and took the brunt of the "boring play-making duties", allowing Darren to inject himself when he chose to.
On top of that, he had another string to his bow that Milford doesn't... an exquisite kicking game.
We've been spoiled in our past with our halves. Not only did we generally have at least one of, if not the best in the business, we had great halves partnerships which complemented each other. Would Alfie or even Locky have delivered such a bounty in magical moments without Walters or Perry/Wallace respectively next to them? I'm not so sure!
As talented as Milford is, he needs a partner type like Locky and Langer had. The same really goes for Kodi.
Unfortunately, we don't have such a player, so we have to make due with two very talented and similarly skilled players.
You can try to share the organisational duties between them, which probably will be in detriment of both, or you can sacrifice one to the "minor role". Who do you think it should be?
