Anthony Milford will only get better, warn his Raiders teammates, who are tipping an NRL showdown against Maroons No.1 Billy Slater to bring out the best in the whiz-kid.
Milford, who last month rejected a rich offer from the Raiders to sign with Brisbane, underlined how much they'll miss him next season with a match-winning performance against the Gold Coast on Sunday.
The 20-year-old livewire was involved in everything in the first half, scoring one try and having a hand in two others, before putting the icing on the cake with another try four minutes from fulltime to snap a four-game losing streak for the Raiders.
But his skipper Terry Campese believes Saturday's clash against the Storm in Melbourne will see Milford lift another notch.
Milford was the standby fullback for Slater in State of Origin camp this year, and Campese knows his teammate has his eyes on the Maroons' No.1 jersey down the track.
"I know what Tony thinks. And he'll definitely be thinking that he'll want to get above (Slater)," Campese said.
"He'll have that as a personal challenge going against the Queensland fullback.
"That's somewhere `Tones' wants to be over the next few years."
Raiders winger Sami Sauiluma echoed his skipper's comments.
"He'll probably step up - he was 18th man for Origin a few weeks ago," he said.
"So this will be his biggest test as he's next in line."
Meanwhile, injury has forced a change to the Raiders' backline for the clash, with Jarrad Kennedy named in the centres to cover for Brenko Lee, who will miss up to four weeks with a hamstring injury.
With Kennedy moving to the centres, Joel Edwards will start in the second row, while Brett White's return will shift Paul Vaughan from the front row to the interchange.
Raiders: Anthony Milford, Reece Robinson, Jarrod Croker, Jarrad Kennedy, Sami Sauiluma, Terry Campese (capt), Josh McCrone, David Shillington, Glen Buttriss, Brett White, Josh Papalii, Joel Edwards, Shaun Fensom. Interchange: Kurt Baptiste, Paul Vaughan, Dane Tilse, Shannon Boyd, Matt Allwood (18th man).
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