London Broncos squad update as plans for new pathways in capital emerge

London Broncos’ squad for the 2025 Championship season is beginning to come together following a turbulent off-season: with 25 players now in first-team training.

The Broncos have been subject to financial issues after owner David Hughes announced he would be selling the club following their relegation from Super League. They are now in talks about fresh investment after returning to the Championship.

That off-field uncertainty, combined with a litany of key players leaving the club, left Mike Eccles and his coaching staff behind the curve in terms of preparation for 2025 – but they are now well underway with planning for the season starting in February.

The club have 11 players contracted, including the likes of long-serving stars Alex Walker and Will Lovell. Furthermore, the Broncos now have two different batches of trial players in training.

Six players have joined on train and trial deals and following another open trial last weekend, another eight players have been added to their squad on a temporary basis as they look to earn deals for 2025.

Eccles said: “We’ve extended to six in terms of the original train and trailists and we had an open trial at the weekend which I thought was very successful, and we’ve invited eight players from that down.

“There’s a lot of local talent as we know. We’re looking for the next Jarred Bassett. There’s some real talent around. It was great to see, and it was very successful.

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“We’ve got the 11 contracted players we’ve signed that everyone knows, the six train and trailists who have bedded in well and the eight new trialists we’ll take on now with recruitment ongoing for permanent signings.”

Eccles also confirmed the club are looking to restart their academy and reserve programmes – and said that some of the players who are on trial are being earmarked as future developmental stars that could play in those pathways.

He said: “It might not be for this year, but it might be. You might get players playing in January against Goole (in the Challenge Cup).

“Hopefully the ambition is to get a reserve team and academy back, we want the full thing. These players could play a part in our team in the near future or they could be part of a development plan. There are players already I wished we’d had in our programme last year.

“But the reality is we need to put a squad together and what we’ll look like in January remains to be seen.”