Newcastle players have backed ex-Broncos half Anthony Milford to hit the ground running in his Knights debut at McDonald Jones Stadium tonight.
After spending five weeks with the team preparing to play NRL for the first time since September, Milford will run out for the Knights against the club he departed at the end of last season.
The experienced playmaker, who began his career with a 42-game stint in Canberra, was once the star of his hometown club Brisbane, notching 151 games over seven seasons and helping them to the 2015 grand final.
But Milford dropped in and out of the NRL team in his final two years at the Broncos, playing only 26 games across 2020-21.
After failing to land a new contract, he agreed to join South Sydney in 2022 but an off-field incident in September landed the 27-year-old in a Brisbane court and spelled the end of a move to Redfern.
Lacking an experienced half, the Knights showed interest in Milford before his court proceedings had concluded and signed the Samoan international after assault charges he was facing were dropped in April.
An attacking dynamo at his best, the two-game Maroons representative has impressed at training and gets a chance tonight in his preferred position of five-eighth.
Despite having not played an NRL game in almost nine months, Milford has been backed to make an immediate impact for the Knights.
"He's ready. He has worked extremely hard," Newcastle back-rower Mitch Barnett, who played with Milford at the Raiders, said.
"He is nearly 200 games now. He has played in Origin series and in grand finals.
"I was lucky enough to play 20s with 'Milf' and I know what sort of player he is.
"He is very talented with the ball, and he is competitive. The more people you've got like that in your team, the better."
Knights prop David Klemmer added: "He has ripped in. When he has played against us at training, he has been carving us up. He is itching to get out there."
Milford was named to wear the No.6 jersey ahead of Jake Clifford and forms Newcastle's fourth halves combination in as many weeks alongside Adam Clune.
The Knights face a red-hot Broncos side led by halfback Adam Reynolds who, in arguably career-best form, has guided Brisbane to four consecutive victories.
Reynolds, a 240-game player, has made a cracking start at Brisbane after departing South Sydney last year and looms as the key threat for Newcastle to quell.
After a 40-12 loss to Penrith, Brisbane has gone unbeaten in four games, defeating Canterbury (34-14), Cronulla (16-7), South Sydney (32-12) and Manly (38-0).
Reynolds has led the club's revival, recording seven try assists and scoring three of his own in their past four victories.
"They've been on a roll the last few weeks, well probably the whole season," Barnett, who shifts to lock against the Broncos, said.
"You can tell they're really gelling at the moment. Plenty of go-forward there, obviously big Payne Haas is the main one, and then Adam Reynolds is playing probably the best footy he has played for a long time.
"He is kicking really well and steering them around the park really well."
Newcastle's forwards laid the platform for the side's win over the Bulldogs last week, but Barnett said they would have to step it up a few gears to match the Broncos' pack.
"I think forwards judge the result at the end of the day, week-in, week-out," he said.
"If they lay the platform, you're pretty hard to sort of stop. It's always on the forwards and what a challenge this week up against the Broncos, who are flying."
More broadly, Barnett said the entire side would need to raise the bar to claim victory.
"We've got plenty to improve on from our win against the Bulldogs and we're going to have to improve on that to get the result. That's our main challenge," Barnett said.
"They're firing and we need to match them.
"38-0 against Manly, they're obviously scoring points at will. But they're backing it up with really solid, strong defence.
"With sides like that, you've just got to work extremely hard and can't stop.
"We've been guilty of that the last six or seven weeks. We've just got to bite down on the mouth guard and keep moving."
