Milford showed in the opening 80 minutes of the NRL season on Thursday night why there is so much interest in where he plays at representative level after combining with former school mate and fellow Samoa international Tautau Moga to spark Brisbane to a 26-18 win over Cronulla.

The 22-year-old laid on a 31st minute try for centre James Roberts with a perfectly weighted grubber kick into the Sharks in-goal and then sealed the win with a 69th minute solo try in which he weaved his way through five defenders after receiving the ball 12 metres from the Cronulla line.

Speaking after his man-of-the-match performance, Milford stopped short of declaring his Test allegiances but he enthusiastically endorsed the changes to the international eligibility rules which could see him represent Samoa in the mid-year Test against England and play State of Origin.

If he is not chosen in the Australian squad for the World Cup, Milford will then have the option of playing for Samoa, for whom he has not been able to represent since the 2013 World Cup without jeopardising his chances of selection for Queensland and the Kangaroos.

“I think it is beautiful,” Milford said of the international eligibility rules introduced this year. “It opens up the game and opens it up for the players who miss out on the Aussie and New Zealand squads to go back to their nations.

The changes mean that players with dual eligibility such as Milford, Jarryd Hayne (Australia and Fiji) or Manu Ma’u (New Zealand and Tonga) are able to nominate one Tier 1 nation (Australia, New Zealand and England) and one Tier 2 or 3 nation they are eligible to represent.

To qualify, a player must either be born in the nation they wish to represent, have a parent or grandfather born there, or have been a resident of that country for the previous 60 months (five years).

Milford qualifies for Samoa through his parents Halo and Marietta but did not play in last year’s Pacific Test as under the eligibility rules in force at the time he may have this season been forced to choose between State of Origin and the World Cup.

Asked if he would now make himself available to play for Samoa in the May 7 Test against England in Sydney, Milford said: “It is still early days and I haven’t really looked at that. I am really just focused on the Broncos at the moment and will see how we go during the year”.

If he does, Milford is likely to play alongside new Broncos left centre Tautau Moga, who made 149 metres from 10 runs in an impressive return to the NRL against the Sharks on Thursday night.

Moga, who went to school with Milford at St Peter Claver College in Ipswich, played for Samoa in the 2014 Four Nations and 2015 Pacific Test before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and undergoing a third knee reconstruction.