NRL career all but over for Anthony Milford, Brisbane Broncos face battle to keep Xavier Willison | Sport Confidential
Anthony Milford was once the highest-paid player in Brisbane’s history. Unfortunately, he buckled under the pressure of a $1 million-a-season salary, now left with little options as his NRL career looks all but over. That and more in Sport Confidential.
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The NRL career of former Broncos million-dollar star Anthony Milford is on the verge of ending.
After 219 NRL games, Milford is expected to move to the Super League unless he can secure an eleventh-hour lifeline in Australia.
Once the highest-paid player in Brisbane’s history, Milford played just two NRL games for the Dolphins this year and averaged only 10 games per season over the past five.
Milford, 30, got himself in decent shape this year to have a final shot at the NRL but couldn’t get a crack at the Dolphins under Wayne Bennett.
His only two appearances were losses against former clubs Brisbane and Canberra.
It has been a disappointing decline for Milford since he was arguably the best player on the field in Brisbane’s 2015 grand final loss to North Queensland.
If not for Johnathan Thurston’s golden point field goal, Milford could have won the Clive Churchill Medal.
Instead, he buckled under the pressure of a $1 million-a-season salary at Red Hill and spent his final few years fighting for NRL survival at Newcastle and the Dolphins.
Milford rejected a move to England before the 2024 season but that now appears his best chance of continuing to play.
PNG TEAM WARNING
The Australian at the forefront of Papua New Guinea’s biggest tourism industry has warned the NRL and Peter V’landys to reconsider basing a team in the turbulent country.
Kokoda Trail expert and former politician Charlie Lynn this week spoke about the challenges in PNG amid unrest in the nation’s biggest drawcard for Australian pilgrims.
Hundreds of Aussies had their dreams of trekking Kokoda, an important part of Australia’s war history, shattered over the past fortnight following protests by disgruntled landowners.
Blockades were constructed along the trail last week, resulting in the emergency helicopter evacuation of Australia trekkers and continuing a long history of unrest.
Kokoda trekking companies have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars following the cancellation of treks at the last minute during one of the peak periods.
Local authorities and government did little to address the unlawful blockades, the result of a long-running saga around funding for landowners.
Lynn, owner of Adventure Kokoda, has trekked the trail more than 100 times and said the scenario should serve as a warning to the NRL about the instability in PNG.
“If this form of anarchy can happen to PNG’s most popular tourism destination without notice it can happen to their most popular national sport as well,” Lynn wrote in PNG’s Post Courier newspaper.
“The NRL may well consider relocating the PNG team to Cairns as a safer option than Port Moresby if PNG authorities are seen to be impotent and so easily held to ransom.”
The NRL has struck an in principle agreement worth $600 million with the Australian Government to launch an expansion franchise in PNG in the coming years.
The team was originally set to be based in Cairns, but the NRL is now planning to headquarter the franchise in Port Moresby.
COWBOYS COACH DENIES RIFT
Cowboys coach Todd Payten insists there is no rift with Chad Townsend as the veteran halfback prepares to depart Townsville.
Payten made one of the toughest calls of his career when he axed his chief shot caller after round 23, leaving Townsend to watch the Cowboys’ finals charge from the sidelines.
It was a major selection gamble given that Townsend was Cowboys co-captain for two seasons and played a key role in North Queensland’s fairytale surge to the preliminary final in 2022.
Townsend will return to Sydney next season to play for the Roosters and Payten is adamant there is no bad blood with the 33-year-old premiership playmaker.
“I thought long and hard about it,” Payten said of dropping Townsend.
“I felt if we didn’t make the change when we made it, we would be further down the line.
“I made the change with three games to go knowing that once we made the call, ‘Cliffo’ (halfback understudy Jake Clifford) had some time to get some rhythm and hit the ground running.”
Payten explained why he axed Townsend and praised his attitude right until the end of his three-year stint.
“Chad’s body had taken a bit of a battering and it was around contact and tackling to be fair,” he said.
“He was naturally disappointed, which I expected, but his actions and energy around the group have been first class.
“He has been really professional. I know it was tough for him but he has been good here day after day.”
BRONCOS BATTLE TO KEEP X-FACTOR
The Broncos lost Tom Flegler to the Dolphins and now Brisbane are facing a battle to keep another promising prop in Xavier Willison.
Sport Confidential can reveal Willison is a man in demand with the athletic front-rower seeking a major pay rise to remain at the Broncos beyond next season.
More than 30 front-rowers are free agents from November and few are as talented as the rising Willison, who is off-contract at the Broncos at the end of 2025.
The 22-year-old was one of the shining lights of Brisbane’s disappointing 2024 campaign, enjoying a breakout season that saw him play 19 games for the Broncos and represent the Maori All Stars.
At 199cm and 114kg, Willison is one of the tallest players in world rugby league and he caught the eye this season with some rampaging bursts that exhibited impressive speed and mobility for a big bopper.
Willison is happy at the Broncos – his preference is to stay at Red Hill – but Brisbane face a healthy upgrade to keep him with NRL rivals watching his progress with interest.
It is understood Willison is on around $250,000 at the Broncos, but is seeking a wage increase on the back of the best season of his injury-plagued career.
The New Zealand-born bookend made his NRL debut in 2021 but played just 11 games in three seasons due a series of injuries, including an ACL tear three years ago that required a knee reconstruction.
The hard-running forward has played 30 games for the Broncos and while he is still developing, Brisbane cannot afford to lose another prop following the departure of Flegler last year.
Flegler quit the Broncos after last year’s grand final to join the Dolphins, leaving a front-row void this season that Willison and Corey Jensen have tried to fill as a partner for No.1 prop Payne Haas.
Willison started five times this season and underlined his talent against the Dolphins in the Battle of Brisbane in round 6, scoring a try, posting six tackle busts and charging for 181 metres in the Broncos’ 28-14 win.
The Broncos have two other props coming off contract next season in Jensen and Martin Taupau, but Brisbane bosses remain confident of securing Willison’s signature.
WOOLF STEPS DOWN
Incoming Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf’s decade-long reign at the helm of Tonga is set to come to an end.
The upcoming Pacific Championships tournament will likely be Woolf’s final hurrah in charge of the Mate Ma’a.
Woolf, 49, took charge of Tonga in 2014 and has helped the island nation transform into a genuine Test rugby league powerhouse.
Woolf led Tonga to the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the past two World Cups and orchestrated the famous 2019 victory against the Kangaroos.
But he is expected to step down after the Pacific Championships to put his entire focus into his first full-time NRL head coaching role at the Dolphins.
Woolf has big shoes to fill in replacing South Sydney-bound Wayne Bennett and will give himself the best chance of succeeding by focusing purely on the Dolphins.
Tonga will play the Kangaroos on Australian soil for the first time at Suncorp Stadium on October 18.
SLATER’S COWBOYS CALL
Queensland Origin coach Billy Slater says the Cowboys need to develop a harder edge to be a genuine premiership contender next season.
Innisfail product Slater delivered a candid critique of his hometown North Queensland club, claiming the Cowboys’ patchy display in last week’s finals loss to the Sharks summed up their 2024 season.
The Cowboys finished the regular season fifth, just one win adrift of top-four sides the Roosters and Cronulla, but Slater is adamant coach Todd Payten’s troops must be more consistent to challenge for the title in 2025.
“Until they become a consistently hardened team, I just don’t think you can do it at the end of the year when it counts,” Slater said on his Channel 9 podcast.
“Look at the top two teams in our competition (Penrith and Melbourne), they have built those habits through the year.
“The Cowboys need to learn how to do that.
“They finished in the top eight and I thought last few weeks they have had a lot of energy and a lot of purpose about their footy.
“They looked like they were really going after the competition, which is what you have to do at this time of year.”
Trailing 24-0 at halftime against the Sharks, the Cowboys whittled the deficit to 24-12 with 24 minutes to play, but Cronulla held on 26-18 to end North Queensland’s season.
Payten enters his fifth season in charge of the Cowboys in 2025 and Slater says North Queensland must learn from their finals loss to the Sharks.
“I just think that they weren’t consistent enough through the year and that showed in their last game,” he said.
“They looked brilliant at times, they looked like they were going to run over the top of the Sharks at stages of the second half, but their first half let them down through errors and consistency of their footy.
“The Cowboys needed to make a statement in that games.
“It’s not about who you are playing against and where you are playing, it’s about delivering your most consistent performance every week and that’s what the best teams do.
“Nathan Cleary has played a third of the season (due to injury), but Penrith have still had an incredibly consistent year because they have this foundation to their game that everyone contributes to.”
LODGE EXITS EAGLES NEST
Matt Lodge is on the lookout for his sixth NRL club with the former Broncos prop set to sever ties with Manly despite a $300,000 offer.
Sport Confidential can reveal Lodge’s career at Brookvale is all but over after struggling to strike a deal with the Sea Eagles.
Manly coach and former Broncos mentor Anthony Seibold wants to keep Lodge at the club.
Sea Eagles bosses have tabled a two-year deal worth around $150,000 a season, but Lodge is unlikely to agree terms as he weighs up other options.
Since his NRL debut in 2014, Lodge has had stints at Wests Tigers, Brisbane, the Warriors, Sydney Roosters and Manly but only ever found some stability at the Broncos, with whom he played 65 games.
At only 29, the hulking prop could play NRL for another five seasons and has been linked with a move to the Dragons.
Lodge has also been linked with the Knights, where his father-in-law Peter O’Sullivan is recruitment chief, but it’s understood the controversial enforcer won’t be going to Newcastle.
BENNETT HATCHES A FAREWELL PLAN
There is no more passionate rugby league man than outgoing Queensland Rugby League chairman Bruce Hatcher.
The legendary administrator finishes up as QRL chair next month and he received a special tribute at the QRL Awards dinner last week, including a touching speech from super coach Wayne Bennett.
The pair have been friends for 50 years and once lived together as Maroons teammates at Lang Park, where Queensland would hold mini-camps for games against NSW in the days before State of Origin was born.
“Wayne made a nice reference to me at our awards and it meant a lot,” Hatcher said.
“Wayne and myself go way back, we have known each other a long time.
“He helped me enormously getting some counsel from him over the years when I’ve had some difficult things to manage for the Queensland Rugby League.”
Hatcher is famed for his no-nonsense style and has butted heads with ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys, but says he has no personal gripe with ‘PVL’.
“Peter and myself have strong views on the game but we always worked hard to achieve good outcomes for the game,” he said.
“I have interests I have to protect for the QRL and I’ve always cared about what’s best for Queensland Rugby League.
“I don’t go into negotiations hoping that at the other end I hope the other bloke likes me. I won’t have to make any more political statements and pretend I like someone.
“I am looking forward to watching the game and enjoying it.
“It’s been a great ride.”
KINI THE KIWI
Young gun Keano Kini may have shocked many by claiming Gold Coast’s player of the year in his first full-time NRL season.
But it didn’t surprise those at Parkwood given how committed the dynamic fullback is to becoming a better player.
Kini was a runaway winner of the Paul Broughton Medal this year, despite starting the season with only six NRL games next to his name.
Despite his heroics and the Titans finishing in the bottom four, Kini was back at it last week.
He was spotted training by himself at Parkwood as the New Zealand native prepares to be named in the Kiwis’ squad for the upcoming Pacific Championships.
CUP REF A WINNER
Hopefully NRL head of football Graham Annesley and referees boss Jared Maxwell tuned into Sunday’s Hostplus Cup grand final.
The Queensland reserve grade decider once again delivered a cracking contest, with Norths edging out Redcliffe 34-20 at Kayo Stadium.
The match was played in good spirits, with the Devils a little too classy for the spirited Dolphins.
But while Tesi Niu dominated for the Dolphins, referee Jarrod Cole was one of the best on ground.
Cole produced an officiating masterclass, letting the game flow by only blowing five penalties and one set restart.
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