Blindside: Why Brisbane star Anthony Milford is missing the World Nines
Find out why Brisbane star and Samoan linchpin Anthony Milford won’t be taking the field at the World Nines this weekend.
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One notable absentee from the World Nines tournament this weekend will be Broncos maestro Anthony Milford.
The 25-year-old helped launch the event in Sydney earlier this year, representing Samoa, however he has not been named to play.
Milford was scheduled to have knee surgery in the off-season, and it’s understood it could be the reason why he has sat out this weekend’s games.
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LEGENDS RUN AROUND ONE MORE TIME
Rugby league legends Matt “Mango” Bowen, Ben Hannant and Cliff Lyons are set to lace up the footy boots again next month in far north Queensland.
A host of former Origin and Test stars will be running around Barlow Park in Cairns for an International League of Legends charity match.
Bowen, Hannant and Lyons will be joined by premiership winning Sea Eagle John Hopoate, two-time premiership winning Bronco Terry Matterson and former NRL star Chris Walker.
The Australian team will come up against the local Cairns All-Stars squad, which is set to feature the likes of Ty Williams and Brenton Bowen.
Even Queensland Origin legend Gavin Allen is set to make an appearance as the team manager just months after undergoing a heart transplant.
RUNNING OUT OF PETERO
The rugby league pre-season is brutal at the best of times and it almost claimed the scalp of former giant Maroons prop Petero Civoniceva.
The former Bronco revealed the tortures of one such pre-season under coach Wayne Bennett, when the playing squad was sent out to Canungra army barracks for four days.
Civoniceva and the rest of his Brisbane teammates were forced to exercise for 48 hours in the bush before things began to go pear-shaped for the big man.
“The next day I was starting to feel it, feeling really dehydrated,” he told the Talking with TK podcast.
“Into the afternoon, cramps set in. I didn’t have enough fluids in me. My whole body just shut down. My arms and legs were cramping up. Everything was gone. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even stand up and the boys were getting concerned.
“They tried to get some food into my guts, some chocolate, sugar but it wasn’t working.
“All of a sudden, I started to black out a bit.”
He was rushed to the army hospital soon after where the doctors realised he was in a pretty bad way.
“Then I got an ambulance up to Brisbane and I was in there for a couple of days replacing my fluids,” he said.
“I had blood in the urine and had been pretty close to frying my kidneys. It was some bad damage that sat me out for the next two weeks.”
Luckily, the Fijian recovered well enough to continue playing footy until the end of the 2012 season.
MOON RISING WITH THE FALCONS
Former Broncos player Joel Moon is returning home to the Sunshine Coast next year.
The 31-year-old has signed with the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Intrust Super Cup following a seven-year stint in the English Super League for the Salford Devils and Leeds Rhinos.
Moon played 31 games for the Broncos and 51 for the Warriors.
TIGER RUNS WITH BRUMBIES
Queensland Intrust Super Cup and Melbourne Storm star Solomone Kata has revealed he will be heading to the nation’s capital for the next three years, having signed with the ACT Brumbies rugby union side.
Kata bid farewell to his former Storm side on social media as he embarks on a new challenge to play the 15-man game.
The 24-year-old played nine games for Easts Tigers in the ISC this season, notching four tries and a perfect conversion record of seven from seven attempts.
WHIRLWIND WEEK
New Cowboy Esan Marsters has had a whirlwind week, having got married in Sydney before travelling north to Townsville to sign with his new club in just a matter of days.
Last Friday, Marsters married his partner Isabella before flying up to north Queensland on Monday to announce his signing with the Cowboys on a three-year contract.
The 23-year-old is now back in Sydney to pack up his house, and will this weekend be cheering on his cousin Steven Marsters, who has been named to represent the Cook Islands in World Nines tournament.
SUNCORP STADIUM GIVES BACK
The community work venues like Suncorp Stadium do behind the scenes can often go unnoticed amid the excitement of a State of Origin contest or a concert by a leading international act.
While the Stadium caters for more than one million fans who attend about 50 events each year, it’s the little things with minimal fanfare that give back to the community which are just as important.
Each year, the Stadium conducts a Golf Day that benefits the work of Hear and Say, hosts the 42 for 42 Walk which raises funds for the families of the fallen in the Afghanistan conflict, and supports the fundraising activities of local community groups and schools.
The Golf Day will take place at Hope Island again on Friday.
In its 9 years, more than $380,000 has been raised and its hoped to raise another $50,000 this year.
Through Hear and Say, the Stadium has proudly sponsored three young hearing-impaired children and enable them to lead normal lives.
A number of corporate partners including Qantas and Lexus have been generous with their support, as have a number of former and current rugby league champions, Wally Lewis (a patron of Hear and Say), Gene Miles and past and current Stadium Ambassadors, Corey Parker and Matt Gillett.
The Stadium is also innovative in how it enables the public to contribute through an online auction and to purchase tickets in a mega raffle. Money can’t buy prizes such as a Melbourne Cup Birdcage experience and a 2020 Adelaide State of Origin package usually attract strong bids but there are a number of other exciting prizes to be won.
Check out what’s on offer this year and make a bid or buy a raffle ticket, knowing that moneys raised are supporting a great cause. And good luck. https://app.galabid.com/ssgolfday/items
Originally published as Blindside: Why Brisbane star Anthony Milford is missing the World Nines