THE Newcastle Knights were already dealing with one contractual saga. Now it appears they might have two on their hands.
As Knights officials wait anxiously for skipper Kalyn Ponga to make a decision about his future, their hopes of adding former Brisbane Broncos playmaker Anthony Milford to their roster have reportedly encountered an unexpected obstacle.
Arrested last September after police were contacted about a disturbance in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, Milford was charged with three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of wilful damage.
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But the most serious of those charges were dropped in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, when the 27-year-old instead pleaded guilty to one count each of public nuisance and wilful damage, after admitting he threw a garbage bin and damaged a car.
He was ordered to pay compensation of $2371 to cover car-damage repairs and placed on a two-year good-behaviour bond, but no conviction was recorded.
Knights management were hopeful the verdict would entitle them to sign Milford on a deal for the rest of this season, after which he is expected to link with former coach Wayne Bennett at the Dolphins.
But reports have now surfaced that the NRL will not consider registering a contract for Milford until its integrity unit has conducted an investigation into the incident.
In particular, the governing body is understood to be concerned about allegations raised in court that Milford pushed a woman during the late-night September fracas, causing her to fall back and hit her head on concrete, leaving her with neck pain and headaches.
Milford's agent, Sam Ayoub, told Newscorp on Monday that there was "no reason" that the NRL should not register a contract for his client.
"The courts of the land have cleared Anthony of all assault allegations, so we hope to go through the process of having him registered by the NRL immediately," Ayoub was quoted as saying.
Nonetheless, regardless of the verdict, the integrity unit may yet feel a further sanction is warranted for Milford, who has not played since the final round of last season, when he parted company with the Broncos.
He had signed to play for South Sydney this season, but those plans were cruelled when the police charged him and the NRL refused to register a contract until after the legal proceedings had played out.
The Knights expressed interest after learning Milford and Souths had fallen out over a payment dispute, and Ayoub told News Corp "we have had some constructive talks with Newcastle and they are ongoing".
The integrity unit's intervention is one reason Milford is unlikely to be a quick-fix solution after Knights halfback Adam Clune suffered a knee injury in last week's 30-6 loss to Manly at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Clune is in doubt for the clash with St George Illawarra at Wollongong on Sunday.
While Ayoub told News Corp that Milford was "ready to play" and had been "training the house down" while he awaited his day in court, there is a massive difference between keeping fit and being physically prepared for the brutal contact of the NRL.
Two years ago, when the NRL shut down for seven weeks during the initial COVID outbreak, Knights coach Adam O'Brien said a three-week build-up before resuming would be "cutting it fine".
"Once it gets less than that, the duty of care you have to the players starts to become a talking point then," O'Brien said at the time.
His comments were echoed by senior forward Tim Glasby, who estimated that preparing for full competition was a building process that takes "about a month".
"If you were to go straight into games without enough contact training leading into it, there'd be a lot more injuries," Glasby said.
Milford hasn't played since September 4 and, whatever training he has been doing in Brisbane, presumably it has not included much full contact.
Meanwhile, the Knights will be hoping for a decision soon from Ponga, who is weighing up interest from the Dolphins.
