London Broncos co-owners Darren Lockyer and Grant Weschel have spoken on the club’s snub from Super League, admitting that it was “disappointing” but that they’re all in on a push to enter the competition for 2027.
Australian businessman Weschel and rugby league great Lockyer are part of the new ownership group at the capital club with former Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington also involved.
Both Weschel and Lockyer have now appeared on The Bye Round Podcast hosted by James Graham to speak on their plans after being knocked back on their application to join Super League, with the plan for 2026 clearly outlined, despite no clear format being established.
Lockyer explained: “When we first looked at this opportunity, it was based on being in the Championship and then through this process of expanding Super League to 14 teams, we thought ‘let’s have a crack at that’.
“We put a lot of time, effort and money into our bid so we probably got a bit excited so when the decision came down then yes, it was disappointing, but we can understand why that decision was made and we’ve just got to get on with it.”
London Broncos chiefs explain 2026 plans
In terms of getting on with it, London have done just that with a flurry of overseas signings added to Jason Demetriou’s squad with the Papua New Guinea national team head coach using those connections to recruit a number of Kumuls.
London are in the process of building a very strong squad and Weschel explained that with so much off-field stuff happening, including reports of private investment or NRL involvement in Super League, things can change very quickly. But for now, he and London are aiming to win “on and off the field”.
He explained: “We’ve got to turn our mind to winning the Championship, increasing our grading points if it’s still going to be based on them. I’ve said to our guys that we just need to win on the field and win off the field and make sure we’ve got the points, so we’re 100% committed to it.
“Grading points is still the method as far as I understand. It hasn’t been outlined that if you win then you’re definitely up.”
London owners address Brisbane Broncos links
As well as signing plenty of players, Weschel also spoke about the importance of pathways in creating London into a rugby league force, noting: “The amount of talent hiding around nine million people and the amount of guys who don’t make it in rugby union, or the kids who don’t want to play rugby union.
“Gary said something the other day about how we’ll become the best breeding ground for rugby league within five years so he’s obviously very ambitious about it, with his background from Leeds and their pathways there.”
The pair also shut down any suggestions of Brisbane Broncos being involved in the club’s ownership with Darren Lockyer a board member of the NRL champions, however, Weschel welcomed them to have a stop-over in the capital on their visit for the World Club Challenge in February.
He confirmed: “There’s no relationship on ownership but there’s also nothing on staff or players. If they reach out to us and they want to do something, we’d love to host them in town for training or a dinner.”
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