MILF MUST DELIVER OR AXE LOOMS
BRONCOS coach Kevin Walters says he won’t be afraid to axe Anthony Milford if the under-fire $1 million fiveeighth fails to snap Brisbane’s 13game losing streak against the Bulldogs on Saturday night.
Milford, the highest-paid player in Broncos history, is increasingly feeling the heat at Red Hill with Walters instructing the off-contract playmaker
to finally deliver on his potential — starting against Canterbury at Suncorp Stadium. The 26-year-old has been a protected species at Brisbane, having never before been dropped in his 140-game career at the club since joining the Broncos from Canberra as a whiz-kid in 2015.
But as Walters searches for Brisbane’s first win of the season, the Broncos coach has pulled no punches, saying if he had the courage to drop
Billy Slater from the Queensland team in 2017, he will happily wield the axe if Milford won’t step up.
“I will make the tough calls,” Walters said ahead of the round-three clash at Suncorp.
“I’ve had to leave Billy Slater out of the State of Origin side and that was a tough call, that still haunts me.
“Anthony is a running five-eighth and Brodie (Croft) is an organising halfback, so I need them to do that.”
Walters had honest words with the pair in the wake of last week’s 28-16 derby loss to the Titans.
In Milford’s case, it wasn’t just his two missed tackles which directly led to David Fifita’s brace of tries, it was his poor option-taking and ineffective kicking which eased the pressure valve on the Titans at a crucial stage of the first.
Unsigned for next season, Milford is fighting for his future at the Broncos.