By Henry Taylor @HTaylor2013
What a disappointing result that was on Sunday. A reality check for the players as the Broncos were beaten 34-6 in a one-sided affair by Championship rivals Dewsbury Rams.
Only 4 players in the London Broncos squad have played Championship rugby before and the conditions, different speed of play and different style of rugby league shocked the capital players who are very used to playing on big, sunny pitches in Australia and Super League, not so the likes of a cold Sunday afternoon at Dewsbury. What a relief that the squad and head coach Joey Grima was taught this essential lesson in a friendly game with no points on offer rather than on the first game at home against Doncaster. The players now have two weeks to adapt their style of play, muscle up on the wings, learn how to control games and most importantly, to win. The London Broncos have the quality and experience to make sure that they not only adapt to the conditions up north week in, week out but to make sure that they stick to their roles and play their own style of play instead of trying to play the opposition at their own game.
I think head coach Grima has recruited brilliantly in the off season but the main issue I have with the squad is size. Currently we have a 25 man squad (26 before Adamson was released) but at the current moment, Grima only has 23 players match fit with William Barthau injured till April/May (ACL injury obtained playing for France) and prop Glenn Riley out for an unknown length. However JG has good quality players to promote from the u19s like strong second rower, Oli Toms, and centre Tuoyo Egodo. I expect during the season a few u19s will be promoted to make up numbers plus a few loan singings.
But keeping in the positive mentality, we have some star signings in the Championship which seem to be gelling well. Joint captains Richard Mathers and Nick Slyney will be essential this season and are class players. Fiji international Wes Naiqama will score a good amount of tries and be a big addition in defense and Josh Cordoba and Daniel Harrison (who played in the NRL playoffs) will add tons of experience and size in the forwards. In 2014 the two big issues were size in the forwards and age of the squad. Highly experienced Joey Grima has fixed both of those problems assembling a squad with an average age of 24 and recruiting and retaining strong, offloading forwards which should cause a lot of trouble to opposition defences by smashing up the forwards and creating opportunities for the likes of Keyes, Naiqama, Foran and Macani to score and create tries.
Bookmakers, experts (that doesn't include Paul Schofield) and fans place London at a secure 3rd place finish but the players must not underestimate any team who will be out there wanting to beat us (because we're full time) and they must adapt to the conditions away from home. The Broncos must win a majority of their home games and a good amount of away games which they have not done for as long as most fans can remember.
To round the article up let's have a look at coverage of London games in 2015. At the moment, @SLClubs will be running live twitter commentary on London Broncos v Doncaster at the Hive in their first ever Championship commentary. @LondonFaithful will provide live twitter commentary on every game during the season. The London Broncos will be running a live match centre which was successfully tested in preseason at Perpignan, Haringey and Dewsbury and they will upload match highlights and post-match interviews with Grima for every game during the season. London Broncos v Sheffield Eagles will be televised live on Sky Sports during the Summer Bash.
Here's to a great season for everyone linked with the London Broncos!
p.s. Don't forget to sign up to the London Broncos Supporters Association for FREE, join the LBSA 100 club and secure your place on the LBSA coach away to Leigh Centurions for just £26 on www.lbsa.org.uk