The Story Of 2023
We can argue about whether or not a playoff system involving six teams is really the best way to promote a competitive team from the Championship to Super League. For now, London Broncos have taken full advantage..
Rather like Leeds in the top flight in recent years, the Broncos did not have to concern themselves with finishing top of the pile in order to win the second tier title. Instead they trailed in fifth, fully 18 points behind table toppers Featherstone Rovers. That was good enough for a playoff place, at which point wins over Sheffield Eagles, Featherstone and Toulouse were sufficient to bring the Broncos back to Super League for the first time since 2019. They won't be there for long, but that is another story.
The Broncos won 16 and lost 11 of their 27 regular season games in 2023. They opened with four defeats in their first five outings. The solitary win during that spell was a 20-16 success at Whitehaven. All of Batley, Halifax, Sheffield and Keighley got the better of the team from the capital during that run.
Wins at Newcastle and at home to Swinton followed before a 52-0 shellacking by Toulouse in early April left coach Mike Eccles' side floundering. Things did not improve when they were hammered 40-10 at home by Featherstone and then edged out 30-28 at York.
Barrow, Toulouse and Widnes were all overcome as we moved into June but a 32-16 defeat at Bradford put the brakes firmly back on. Featherstone rattled 50 points past Eccles' side on the back of that defeat - making it 90 points conceded in two meetings with Fev - before a narrow win at Batley was followed by a 50-point haul of their own at home to Newcastle. A second win of the season over Toulouse and a 12-6 edging of Swinton made it three wins in a row but July ended with a 24-10 defeat at home to York.
A run for the playoffs was required at this point and the London side got it. Barrow, Halifax, Whitehaven, Sheffield and Widnes were all beaten in a five game winning streak that only came to an end with a narrow 12-10 home loss to the Bulls. Eccles' men finished with a 24-16 win over Keighley before those playoff wins somehow elevated them back into the big time.
The 2024 Recruits
Eccles has taken two players from Keighley and there are five new bodies in total who have been plying their trade in the Championship. Cougars pair Sadiq Adebiyi and Robbie Storey are joined by Gideon Boafo from Newcastle Thunder, James Meadows from Batley and fullback Josh Rourke from Whitehaven. Sadly, the latter has suffered a broken leg and will be missing for some time. As will hooker Bill Leyland who could miss the whole of the 2024 campaign after suffering an ACL injury.
Adebiyi is a Nigerian loose forward who has had a long list of former clubs, one of which is Wakefield Trinity when they were in Super League. Yet he was restricted to a few appearances and so this season represents his first real chance at top flight action. Storey is a centre who has spent time at Castleford, while Boafo is a winger. Meadows operates at stand-off.
Hakim Miloudi may be a more familiar name to you. The French international fullback or winger spent three seasons at Super League level with Hull FC between 2017-19 before being part of the ill-fated Toronto Wolfpack Super League journey. He has been playing mostly in France following a two-season spell with Batley in 2021-22, and joins from Limoux Grizzlies.
It is understandable that the Broncos, whose IMG grading all but guarantees that they will return to the Championship irrespective of how they do on the field, would not break the bank to try and stay off the bottom of the table. Perhaps the only sprinkling of proven top level quality that they have brought in is former Brisbane Broncos front rower Rhys Kennedy.
He arrives following a season with Hull KR. Now 29, Kennedy has played over 50 NRL games for Brisbane and South Sydney Rabbitohs. He is someone who could be a positive influence on a squad whose only major motivation going into 2024 is to prove that they can hack it in Super League and maybe get another top flight club at the end of the year when the inevitable happens.
So Who's Out?
There are just two main departures from Eccles' squad. Winger Paul Ulberg heads to Toulouse after two seasons and 50 appearances for the Broncos which yielded 27 tries. Joining him through the exit door is much travelled Papua New Guinean front rower Wellington Albert who has joined Featherstone. After arriving in the UK with Widnes in 2018 Albert has been at Leeds and Keighley among others.
What's The Expectation?
Perhaps the question should be why should they care? When IMG released their gradings at the end of the 2023 season the Broncos were ranked 24th. Only the top 12 clubs in this ranking system will secure a place in Super League in 2025 regardless of results. However unlikely, it remains a possibility that Eccles’ side could win the Grand Final and still feel the weight of IMG’s foot in their behind as they force them to leave the big league.
Owner David Hughes wrote an open letter on the subject of the club’s grading. Some found it a bit whiney but to my mind it made some very reasonable points. Either way, it’s clearly a complete nonsense to have a team in the competition which is absolutely certain of its relegation before a ball has been kicked. It will be a terrible look for the sport if the Broncos finish anywhere other than bottom of the pile.
What Will Really Happen?
Fortunately for the geniuses who came up with this ruse the Broncos are extremely likely to be the proud owners of the wooden spoon come September.
That is reflected in their recruitment where aside from Kennedy they haven’t brought in any proven top level talent. Of course, that might not all be down to the Broncos’ understandable lack of ambition for this fools errand of a season. It could also be because there are a dearth of rugby league stars just desperate to join a club that will only be around for the year. A lifespan more akin to your kid’s school’s pet gerbil than a Bronco.
The existing squad which helped secure that unlikely promotion from the Championship isn’t exactly chock full of quality either. Aside from Kennedy and Miloudi there is really only fullback Alex Walker and props Rob Butler and Lewis Bienek with significant big league experience. Butler has spent parts of his career with Warrington and Wakefield while Bienek counts Hull FC and Castleford among his former clubs.
Motivation just has to be an issue for Eccles’ side, though individually he and his players may be keen to prove their own worth at this level. Some of them may succeed in that to the extent that we may see them again in Super League in 2025.
They just won’t be wearing anything with a London Broncos logo on it.
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