What Super League snub means for London Broncos and the 2026 Championship

The 13th and 14th teams in Super League 2026 have been announced and that’s seen confirmation that London Broncos will not be playing in the top flight next year.

News of London missing out actually came earlier with investor Grant Weschel speaking to the Australian media to confirm that his side had missed out on Super League.

Instead, they will play in what is expected to be an expanded second tier with the Championship and League One clubs amalgamating to form a 21-team competition.

How exactly that will look is still to be seen as teams obviously cannot play 20 games home and away, but the expectation is that clubs will be somewhat tiered and play similar level opposition twice.

That’s all to be decided another day though with today’s story being about London Broncos and their snub from Super League, though it might not be fair to call it a snub given where they finished in both the 2025 IMG grades and league table.

Of the Super League applicants that most felt had strong cases, namely York, Bradford, Toulouse and London, the Broncos placed lowest in the league (10th) and lowest on IMG grades (16th).

Granted, they’ve received investment and the promise of more from an Australian consortium fronted by businessman Grant Weschel but funding from overseas doesn’t change their standing below other applicants or magically make problems disappear, as evident with Salford Red Devils this season.

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Why London Broncos missing out on Super League is actually a blessing

What that funding can do is make London Broncos an absolute force in the 2026 Championship with the capital club now having a year to make themselves inevitable in terms of a place in Super League for 2027.

Bradford Bulls this year and Castleford Tigers the year prior are examples of clubs using the IMG metrics to score high and London, with heavy backing and good off-field leadership in the form of Gary Hetherington, can do similar.

What they don’t have is primacy of tenure, that is that they don’t own their stadium, but they can improve in all other IMG pillars, namely performance with the bonuses available for winning the Championship and 1895 Cup being obvious points to target.

With Jason Demetriou at the helm and two confirmed NRL signings in Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Siliva Havili, the Broncos can build a squad that dominates the competition in a similar vein to what Leigh did in 2022, whereby they create a Super League-ready squad in the Championship.

Three of the contenders from 2025 have already been promoted whilst two further play-off teams in Featherstone and Halifax have HMRC battles, with relegated Salford in the same boat. Those issues don’t automatically write those sides off but they are big burdens, something London do not have so it’s not hard to imagine that with a few more signings, the Broncos could storm the Championship.

As aforementioned, they will hope to do so in the same blueprint as Leigh, then Centurions, did in 2022 whereby they assembled a Super League-ready side.

This ‘snub’ from Super League shouldn’t be seen in such a way. Instead, it should be viewed as a blessing that allows them a year to get all of their on and off-field matters resolved before launching a strong bid for Super League in 2027.

Gary Hetherington is one of the sport’s best at running clubs. Darren Lockyer is another incredibly intelligent and respected voice with plenty of pull to attract players and investors. Grant Weschel is already one of those investors putting his money where his mouth is, and if that continues this year with more signings, then London’s return to Super League has simply been delayed by one year.