Championship coach talks ambitious plans for London Broncos following rebrand announcement

Championship side London Broncos have big ambitions for the next phase of the club, and current director of rugby Mike Eccles is excited to put those plans into action.

It was announced last week that the club will undergo a rebrand with former Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington at the helm, alongside potential new investment coming from Australia.

Eccles said he’s happy that the news is now out there and is looking forward to helping the club grow in the south.

Speaking to the Broncos website, he said: “There’s the future and there’s the here and now, so it’s important that we got the message out there of Gary’s (Hetherington) involvement and his plans for the club moving forward, his role and position within the club.

“That was fantastic, and it’s out there now. It’s not necessarily that the work starts now, work has been ongoing for a series of weeks now.

“It was great to have that launch and update people, where we are and the ambition that we’ve got in terms of the first team, the relaunch over time of the academy structures that we want to put in place.”

Rugby league in the south gets a boost with Championship side’s rebrand

With both the Challenge Cup Final and the first Ashes test being held at Wembley Stadium in 2025, there is an appetite for rugby league in the capital.

However, whilst there is plenty of talent there, the Broncos have never quite been able to compete at the highest level since the early days of Super League.

Whilst there have been some solid performances during their multiple Super League eras, they went straight back down to the Championship following their last Super League stint in 2024.

Many rugby league fans have always said that if they can get the investment right, the sport could thrive south of the M62 corridor.

Visible pathways for junior players and solid financial backing are two key starting points for the Championship side to focus on should they want to return to Super League in the not-too-distant future.