World Cup international’s shirt number snub explained as club announce his return to Australia

London Broncos are set to get their pre-season underway on Friday with the ‘Capital Challenge’ game where they’ll face London Skolars but they’ll be doing so with one major absentee.

Having released their squad numbers for 2023 just yesterday some fans were curious as to where their number 18, Ronny Palumbo, was with the 31-year-old a distinct absence from the list.

Palumbo? Looking at that, I hope we have a few more coming in!!

— HTH81 (@HTH811) January 16, 2023

One fan was particularly quick to point it out, whilst others noted that the squad looked either “thin on the ground” or “light”.

Broncos have now come out today with the announcement that Palumbo is to return to his birth country of Australia and will therefore not feature for the Championship side.

In a short statement released to their website and via their Twitter, it read.

“London Broncos can confirm Ronny Palumbo has returned to Australia and will play no part in the club’s 2023 campaign.

“The 31-year-old signed for the Broncos at the beginning of last season and made 22 appearances during his time in the capital.

“The club respects Ronny’s decision to return to his country of birth and departs with our very best wishes for the future.”

Palumbo featured recently for Italy at the World Cup where he scored the nation’s only try against the country of his birth, Australia, in a 66-6 loss.

He’d formerly played for Greece internationally as well prior to his Italy call-up.

He had previously played for cross-city rivals, London Skolars, and also featured in French domestic league, Elite One.

Without Palumbo the Broncos have announced a squad that is comprised of 22 players, and will head across the capital on Friday before embarking on their Championship campaign the weekend of 4th and 5th February.

SQUAD NUMBERS 🔢

Ahead of the new @Betfred Championship season, we're pleased to confirm our squad numbers for 2⃣0⃣2⃣3⃣

View them in full 👇https://t.co/XzrnwgAXdi#WeAreLondon 🏉 pic.twitter.com/JbNakLNLvV

— London Broncos (@LondonBroncosRL) January 16, 2023