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London Broncos to start season with only ’12 contracted players’ after Super League relegation

London Broncos

London Broncos coach Mike Eccles is “incredibly proud” his team have made it to the ‘start line’ for 2025 despite having just 12 contracted players.

Eccles made his comments to club media at the Championship and League One season launch ahead of London’s first game of the season this weekend when they face Goole Vikings in the Challenge Cup.

After being relegated from Super League, London saw plenty of their players poached by rival teams from Super League, the Championship and even overseas.

They were able to retain a handful of players including the likes of Alex Walker, Will Lovell and Sadiq Adebiyi but have otherwise had to recruit the rest of their squad.

The problem with signing players is that long term investor David Hughes stepped away from the club at the end of the season meaning that the Broncos have been hamstrung in their recruitment.

As such, making it to this point is something that London Broncos coach Mike Eccles claims the club are “incredibly proud” of.

London Broncos “incredibly proud to get to the start line” after relegation

He made those comments to club media as he outlined his squad for this weekend which provided a deeper insight into what the season holds for the capital club.

“We’re incredibly proud just to get to the start line really,” he explained.

“We’ve put a team out there, we’ve got 12 contracted players in the squad and then we’ve got the boys from Wigan that we’ve just announced.

“We’ve also got the triallists to look forward to. There will be at least five of those who will make the 17 and we’ll get a closer look at (them).”

A total of eight triallists were named in the squad to face Goole whilst Wigan loanees Kian McDermott and Lukas Mason were also named.

Speaking on his squad, Eccles explained: “It’s the first time that we will see them, we’ve not had a friendly or anything like that so it’s a really exciting game and I’m excited to see our established players step up which I’m sure they will.

“They’ve been fantastic in the close season understanding how difficult it is and understanding how we have to build with recruitment issues and financial issues.

“I’m excited to see what Goole bring as well. I watched their game at Featherstone in a load of mud. We’ll be on a fresh track at Roslyn Park so it’s an exciting day all around.”

Eccles was also keen to underline the fact that the Broncos have returned to their ‘roots’ at their time of need, even bringing on board some of the rugby league talent in London as they look to rebuild following 2024.

He said: “We’ve gone back to our roots in terms of our shirts because that’s who we are. In terms of player pool, we haven’t got any players so what do we do? We scour the local area and get the best talent.

“I’m really proud of us doing that. That’s who we are and how clubs should operate. I’m excited for those boys.

“I’m really delighted we’re at the start line and we’re putting a game on. We’re not at Wimbledon yet but it will be a really good day for the game in the sense we’re at the start line and Goole have got their first game.”

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Jaybs

    January 25, 2025 at 10:47 am

    Unsure why that has been made such a major story, and not the positive that those at the Club have worked realy hard to get to this stage, and still are! with hopes of a buyer/investor. Our game seems to love making crisis more important than Positives!

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