Legendary NRL scout says Anthony Milford second only to Johnathan Thurston when it comes to talent

NRL scout Brian Edwards has watched more than 30,000 kids over his career and he rates Anthony Milford the best young product since first meeting Johnathan Thurston as a 12-year-old.

Milford listens intently to the master.

THE NRL scout who signed Anthony Milford has revealed the abuse and hardship he overcame as a teenager to defy the odds and become an Origin debutant.

Brian Edwards, one of Queensland’s finest league scouts, recalls the Maroons rookie suffering the same taunts as Allan Langer and Johnathan Thurston, with Milford being told: “You can’t tackle”.

Now employed by the Broncos, Edwards has watched more than 30,000 kids in his 20-year reign as an NRL scout. He rates Milford the best young product he has seen since Edwards first met Thurston as a 12-year-old at Sunnybank.

Milford listens intently to the master.

Edwards was convinced Milford had the talent to play NRL, but junior representative selectors would baulk at picking him because of concerns about his size and defence.

Milford will make his Maroons debut on Wednesday night at Suncorp Stadium – vindicating Edwards for showing faith when other scouts turned their backs on the Broncos sensation.

“Anthony has had to overcome a few knocks,” says Edwards, who was working as Canberra’s Queensland-based scout when he snapped up Milford as a 13-year-old.

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“A certain recruitment bloke who I won’t name said, ‘This kid (Milford) can’t tackle’.

“The selectors at junior level would see error in him, more so than the brilliance I would see.

“Milf was something special in attack and while he would fall off the odd tackle, he was still in there having a go.

“I always felt he could improve with a bit of coaching and game sense.

“Anthony would always be at the local park playing touch footy with his mates, so when he played on the weekend, he just played with flair and his natural skill.

“Anthony always had this vision ... for all his supposed fault, I thought he had X-factor.”

Edwards still vividly recalls the day he signed Milford.

“He was 13 and playing for Souths Acacia Ridge against Redcliffe at Brandon Park,” he said.

“Out of a set of six, Anthony touched the ball five times and they finished a metre from the tryline.

Anthony Milford made his NRL debut with the Raiders.

“Redcliffe got the ball back and one huge kid raced away, he ran 90 metres and Anthony chased and chased. He tackled him where the corner post was and put him into touch.

“At that moment, I said to a scout beside me ‘this kid has something special’.

“I’ve seen thousands of kids in my time but the two best I have seen are Thurston and Milford.

“I was the secretary at Sunnybank rugby league club when Johnathan signed up. He was so tiny, smaller than Anthony, but he was just so hungry and competitive.

“Anthony is the closest thing I have seen to JT. He is similar in his traits.

“I couldn’t wait to watch Johnathan every weekend and Anthony gave me that same feeling.

Legendary NRL scout Brian Edwards. Picture: Adam Smith

“I still keep in touch with Anthony and his family. I am proud of where he is today because for all his talent, things didn’t always come easy.”

Maroons halfback Cooper Cronk is relishing the prospect of working with Milford. He admits his defence – the very area that saw Milford written off as a kid – will be tested in the code’s toughest arena.

“We can talk about Anthony’s attack, but Origin is about defence,” Cronk said.

“He has to hang in there and he just needs to make sure that he’s doing all those little things right.

“A lot of people talk about the big plays and the big Origin moments, the reason those things happen is because you do the little things well. Little things make big things happen.”