BY JOHN DAVIDSON
New London Broncos coach Jason Demetriou is happy with how his squad is looking for the 2026 Championship season and is not actively hunting for more recruits.
Demetriou was appointed Broncos boss in September and the club has been incredibly busy on the recruitment front, bringing in a raft of players from both the southern hemisphere and across the UK.
NRL names such as Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Siliva Havili and Dean Hawkins have been signed, along with several Papua New Guinea internationals, and the likes of Elliot Wallis from Huddersfield and Jack Croft from Wakefield, among others.
Former South Sydney coach Demetriou is pleased with the signings that the club has made, and in terms of recruitment, says London are “alright for now”.
“The playing group we’ve got and the squad we’ve assembled, there’s a huge amount of competition for places,” he told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“We’ve got a trial this week in Keighley on Sunday and that’s going to give us a good indication of where we sit and who’s pushing for a spot in round one.
“We’ve also got our first Challenge Cup game against an amateur side the following week, so it’s an opportunity for us in the first two weeks to make sure we’re giving plenty of players in the squad a good opportunity to press their claims.
“At the moment it’s going to be pretty difficult to pick a top 17, so I’m pretty happy with where the squad’s at.”
The Broncos open their Championship campaign at home to Widnes on January 18.
London has undergone a major transformation in the past four months with new owners, investment, staff, players, sponsors and branding all secured.
With York, Bradford and Toulouse promoted into an expanded Super League, the Broncos are expected to be one of the heavyweights in the newly merged second division alongside Oldham, Halifax and the Vikings.
“Pre-season has been good,” Demetriou said.
“It was pretty hectic to start with, obviously recruiting and pulling a team together in six weeks was tough. But we had some great people on board who helped us pull that together.
“I’m really happy with the side we’ve pulled together. It took a little bit to start with, just to get the boys in-country and down from the north and where everybody has come from.
“I think we recruited 16, 17 players and brought them into London quite quickly. There’s still a bit to go, Jeremiah Simbken arrives today, so he’s the last of the contracted players we’ve signed to arrive.
“It’s not just them, it’s getting their families settled and everyone comfortable.
“We’ve done a great job with that and now it’s out pulling it together as a team and in the last couple of weeks we’ve seen some good signs in that we’re starting build some combinations and start to know each other off the field as well as on the field.
“That’s only going to grow even more over the next couple of months.”