Exiled NRL halfback Anthony Milford could find himself in Newcastle for a whirlwind seven-month tour if next week offers up a resolution to his ongoing legal battles.
Milford will be offered a $150,000, eight-month contract by the Newcastle Knights if his ongoing legal battles are dropped in court next week.
The court meeting has been temporarily delayed due to Brisbane flooding.
The former Broncos star has found himself frozen out of the NRL after he was arrested on September 20 for allegedly assaulting three people, including two women, during an alcohol-fuelled evening in Queensland’s capital city. Two of the three counts are reportedly set to be scrapped after new CCTV footage was shown to lawmakers.
The 27-year-old was captured throwing a bin in anger, which damaged a nearby vehicle. The footage revealed, however, that he was attacked by two women who repeatedly struck him. The ex-NRL star retaliated by throwing the bin — not at the women, but at the car.
The court case saw a one-year deal with the Bunnies ripped up last September.
Now, a favourable outcome by the end of the month will see the Knights offer the playmaker a short-stint deal which would add him to the club’s halves rotation with Jake Clifford and Adam Clune.
The 193-game veteran would join on a seven-month deal, ending in late November, so that he could take up a deal with Wayne Bennett’s Redcliffe Dolphins for 2023. That would put him up for selection in round five, when the Knights play Manly on Thursday, April 7.
Milford was facing the end of his NRL career at the end of 2021. His time at the Broncos, where he was making upwards of $1,000,000 a year, ended with a whimper rather than a bang, and most top-flight rugby league clubs were avoiding his calls. The snubs came half a decade after he earned the Clive Churchill Medal in 2015.
The former Bronco played two games for Queensland in 2017 and 2018.
NRL powerbrokers have told rugby league media that the governing body won’t considering registering any contract that carries Anthony Milford’s name on it until his legal proceedings are complete.
