timeThis month, the London Broncos begin their fifth campaign in top-flight rugby league since their formation in 1980. Unless something special happens off the pitch, it will be the fourth time they have only lasted one season as the new club, 24th in the IMG rankings, only have the top 12 in the 2025 Super League tiering system. I think this is an unprecedented situation in the history of British sport.
National newspaper rugby league writers were not alone in questioning whether they would win the competition. Match sponsors BetFred London are bottom of the table 3-1. That’s 3-1 exist,No objection. But there are different kinds of wooden spoons. Given their inexperience and lack of spending this winter, even the most pessimistic of fans wouldn’t imagine another run like the one in 2014, when the Broncos — who had 24 players on the team who were 21 years old when the game began or less — the only win of the season was in 2014. Attempt 25. One of these newbies is Iliess Macani, who made his debut in the Super League just after turning 20 years old.
“Everyone thought we were going downhill anyway, that we were doomed,” admitted Makani, who returned to the top flight after a decade. “But no matter what, we must play to the best of our ability, whether it is for our own livelihood or for the club to stay in the Super League.”
Everyone involved is hoping this will be more like their last trip to the top in 2019, when the Outsiders started well in the rankings but hit a wall before bouncing back in the second half of the season and ended up falling just one point. London shouldn’t be judged in the first month when they face last season’s top three. Others who appear weak on the surface will not enjoy their trip to Plow Lane. Any win may not help the club retain its status, but every competitive performance will do wonders for morale.
“Our only goal is to compete in every game, in every aspect of the game,” explained Makani, last season’s top scorer. “If we do this, our results will be much higher than people expect. We can really attract some attention.”
Makani’s career should be over now. After seasons at Bradford and Sheffield, he spent four seasons with third-tier London side Scola before returning to the Championship side and the Broncos, where a group of senior Scola Team players follow their coach Jermaine Coleman through the capital. But things didn’t go well, leading to longtime strength and conditioning coach Eccles taking over as caretaker in June 2022. Eccles is still in charge, Makani is playing the rugby of his life and they are back in the Super League.
“Mike has earned the respect of all the players,” Makani explained. “He’s very professional, always reliable, he speaks his mind. He’s always retained that side. People really appreciate that. As a coach you know now that he really believes in what he delivers – and we do too .”
Coach Eccles, like his team, is undergoing an extended trial period with the Super League. Regardless of IMG’s reprieve, the Broncos will approach the season as a project: London’s talent will be on display in the shop window from February through September. The club’s inability to enter the Chinese Super League in 2025 does not mean that these players or coaching staff will not enter the Chinese Super League. After the disastrous defeat in 2014, 10 players quickly returned to the Super League, including future England mainstay Mike McMicken. Nineteen of the 2019 graduates have won Premier League contracts elsewhere, ensuring their brave efforts are not in vain.
“[Yes], 100% we are in the store window,” Macani said. “We just want to do our best in the limited time we have and make the most of it. We also need to enjoy it because it is closely linked to the result. 2014 was a very difficult season but it was a great career for many players The beginning of career.
“[Captain] Will Lovell said the 2019 squad was very different to now, having been around longer and having considerable Super League experience. We are hungrier now. “
Having achieved promotion against all odds with a part-time team, Eccles were quick to reject suggestions that they could tackle the Super League on the same basis, given that the ax would have fallen on them anyway. Only a few players have retained their parallel careers — Lovell is still teaching, Dean Parata is in real estate, prop Lewis Bienek works in IT, and Jared Jarred Bassett works in construction and Dan Hoyes works in recruiting – missing two practices most weeks.
“Will, Dean and Lewis were all starters, so it did have an impact on the team because we didn’t allow those patterns to continue,” Makani admitted. “The good thing is they are both experienced players so don’t need as many reps as the other boys and they can catch up pretty quickly. Thursday night is a big thing for the team.” Makani had to put his flourishes on hold while playing full-time Developing a career in fitness training, he transitioned to coaching young people for the Air Network charity in Barnet.
Understandably, given that IMG’s ratings require them to go down before kicking a ball, long-term owner David Hughes has put much of his investment this season into areas that will earn points from IMG rather than Score points on the field. Eccles hands the opportunity to a group of young players who excelled in the tournament last year while playing for the Minnows. Three of them – prop Sadiq Adebiyi (from Keighley), winger Gideon Bophy (Newcastle) and Meadows (Bartley) – are products of the Broncos academy and have proven themselves beyond Returned to the club after getting out of his comfort zone.
Maverick ex-France center Hakeem Maloudi has elite-level experience – entertaining appearances at Hull City and Toronto; winger Lee Kershaw at relegated Wakefield The team made a huge impression; Australian Rhys Kennedy, 29, was a regular at Brisbane for three seasons before playing in last year’s Challenge Cup final for Hull KR.
Assuming Lovell makes his 50th Super League appearance in Saints’ opener, 12 years after his debut, he will become the only player in the team to reach the milestone, with Kershaw the only player older than Alex Alex Walker’s 36 Super League appearances last year’s Champions League player of the year, Italian hooker Dean Parata, made his elite debut at the age of 32.
Eccles will therefore hope that whoever fills the final non-European spot can have the same impact as former NRL stars Corey Norman or Dean Weir did last summer, when their arrivals transformed a mid-table side The team turned into an amazing team and finally reached the top. Winning the play-off at Toulouse.
“People are in awe of Corey and Dean and want to impress them,” Makani admits. “The training level has gone up tenfold! They are a pleasure to play with, share their wisdom and knowledge and really push the team forward. Having players like that in the team makes you feel more comfortable because you know if you are in a pressing situation The position, Cory could drop the ball on their try line, or Dean would come up with a try-saving tackle.”
But neither Norman, Ware nor Fijian center Henry Levalui will lead London around Langtree Park on opening night on February 16. The task will be taken on by three players making their Super League debut: newcomer Italian half-back Jack Campagnolo and academy products James Meadows or Oliver Leland. They have lost this season’s Championship Young Player of the Year, hooker Bill Leland (ACL), with full-backs Josh Lock and Alex Walker both injured.
This is arguably the toughest task yet for the first truly Southern Premier League team in history. The London club has never had more than six southern players play regularly in the Premier League. When the Broncos challenge the league’s best teams, it’s often only one team. Martin Ofiah was sometimes the only Englishman. But after promotion without North players, Eccles can field a starting line-up from Birmingham South (who made 14 appearances in last month’s friendly against Huddersfield). Half of his first-choice team are expected to be from the region, something never seen before. They made the long and winding journey from Croydon and Colchester, East and North Herts, from Medway, Milton Keynes and Maidstone. This is important.
“We are extremely proud to be a London team,” Makani said. “Many of us at the academy have struggled to get this opportunity. From a young age we would meet at Twickenham at 6am. If my parents couldn’t send me, I would have to go from Tottenham to Naim takes two or three buses and then spends four hours on a coach ride north, plays a game and then goes home. I’m just grateful for the opportunity. Microphone [Eccles] Being here at that time, witnessing our progress and winning honors. I feel privileged to be doing this with the people I grew up with. We work hard. This is a great story. “
