Milford on track to become great: Parker

As good as Darren Lockyer? Just as special as The King?

Brisbane captain Corey Parker admits it is way too early to ordain Anthony Milford as the best player to wear the Broncos No.6 jersey.

However, the Broncos veteran believes Milford is on track after providing a unique insight into the 21-year-old’s match winning play in the NRL grand final re-match.

Milford capped a man-of-the-match effort when he kicked the field goal that sealed Brisbane’s 21-20 golden point win over North Queensland last Friday night.

“When we went into extra time he made a real point of saying ‘just get into this position and I will kick it’,” Parker told Sky Sports Radio.

“He was that confident of kicking the field goal.

“Not too many guys can do that.”

Parker reckoned it was scary how good Milford could be by the end of his career – even muttered in the same breath as Lockyer and their original No.6 “King” Wally Lewis.

“He’s got all the skills to make him one of the greats (but) to say he will be the best No.6 to pull on a Broncos jersey is a big call at 21,” he said.

“(But) to be said in the same breath as those guys, there’s no reason why he can’t be up there.”

Either way, Parker said he looked forward to the former Canberra fullback blossoming in the No.6 jersey for Brisbane.

“He still wants to get better,” he said.

“But the most scary thing is that he is 21 years old.

“We have another 12 years of this in our game – that’s a big bonus for the Broncos.”

Milford has all but been anointed the heir to Johnathan Thurston’s Queensland playmaking role by the three-time Golden Boot winner himself after his last-round heroics.

He will have to wait at least a year after copping a 12-month Origin ban for breaking curfew with eight players at the pre-season Emerging Maroons camp.

Milford said he was honoured to receive such high praise from Thurston.

“It’s obviously very humbling to get that from one of the best players in the game,” Milford told AAP.

“It comes down to the pre-seasons that I’ve been having here.

“And Benny Hunt and Darius Boyd help complete the player I am.

“I’m not getting too far ahead of myself.”

The 21-year-old said the 40m field goal was “by far” the longest he’d ever kicked in a game and a moment he would cherish for the rest of his career.

“My family had it on the telly straight away when I got home,” he said.

“I didn’t really look at it properly until I saw the video, but I was quite (a long way) out.”

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