London Broncos’ race to build squad as Mike Eccles speaks on ‘mixed bag’ recruitment

London Broncos head coach Mike Eccles has provided an update on his side’s recruitment for 2025 given they have just 11 players contracted.

With the season starting earlier in 2025 than it has in recent seasons, London will find themselves thrust into Challenge Cup action on the weekend of 25th and 26th of January.

That sets a firm date for when Eccles and London Broncos must have a completed squad by with the capital’s side only having 11 players on board at the moment.  Eccles has now confirmed that they club have a further six players on ‘train-and-trial’ deals.

His comments came in a video posted to the club’s social media, the first major update since the Fan Forum on October 21st. Fast forward a month and Eccles claims that major progress has been made.

“We’ve come a long way since the Fans’ Forum,” he explained.

“We’ve had some real, deep, and honest conversations as a club internally and with the fans. We gave them as much of an update as we could.

“Now, we’re back in training and we have a small squad together. The shirts are out, the memberships are on sale which, as we know, will dictate our future.

“I’m just really happy and proud of us all as a group to be here now active and operational.”

London Broncos looking to rugby union to build squad

There had been a chance of the club ceasing to exist so to be operational and in a position to look to the 2025 season with shirt and membership launches is a huge boost.

However, the clock ticks on the Broncos fleshing out their squad with the season starting in just nine weeks’ time, however, those that have signed are on are players familiar to Eccles.

The Super League Coach of the Year nominee said: “We secured the quality players that we could who wanted to stay and we wanted them. That’s fantastic news and we’re very lucky to have some of those players. We’ve also bolted a few players up from the reserves as well.

“There’s been a couple of external recruits as well but they’re predominantly players that I do know and have worked with in the past.”

Where every member of London Broncos’ Super League squad will play in 2025

On what is still to come, he added: “We’ve only signed and secured eleven players up to now. We’re talking to a few more as well and that number will obviously increase over the weeks.

“I’ve taken six train-and-triallists, that’s players from the local area who have played in the SCL and players from the north who I want a closer look at, as well as players from rugby union so it’s a mixed bag really.

“There’s a lot of talent in the area but that will be the way that we go, picking up a squad as we go and gathering momentum. It will be a slow process but we’ll get there.”

At a rate of one signing per week, London will make it to a 20-man squad which would be thread-bare heading into a season so they’ll hope that the players on train-and-trial deals pay off as well.