London Broncos coach issues positive squad update with trio of retentions confirmed

Ben Olawumi
Mike Eccles

London Broncos boss Mike Eccles at the Super League 2024 season launch

London boss Mike Eccles has delivered a positive update on his squad for 2025 as the Broncos prepare for life back in the Championship, confirming a trio of retentions.

The capital club knew that they would be demoted to the second tier before a ball had even been kicked on their Super League return in 2024, owing to a dismal IMG grading.

Following the end of the season, having only finished bottom of the ladder in Super League on points difference, the Broncos announced that long-term investor David Hughes would be departing the club.

That raised question marks over how the club would cope, both on and off the field – with numerous players already seeing their exit from Plough Lane announced.

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London Broncos coach issues positive squad update with trio of retentions confirmed

More recently though, the noise out of London has been positive, and that continued in an interview with Eccles published on the club’s social media channels on Tuesday afternoon.

Among a variety of topics, Broncos chief Eccles discussed his playing squad for 2025 and was able to offer encouragement on that front.

He detailed: “It’s no secret that we’ve saved goodbye to a lot of players, and it’s difficult but we move on, things happen and this is the cycle of sport.

“We have had to take stock of where we’re at in terms of finances, looking at what we can afford to put together and what we can generate. That will determine what we put out on the field.

“There were three contracted players in Lewis Bienek, Marcus Stock and Harry Stevens, and we’re delighted to announce that we’ve been able to honour those contracts.

“We’re also delighted to announce that there are upwards of 10 players who were with us last year (2024) that we’re speaking to at the moment. They’re keen to stay and we’re keen to have them.”

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‘I want the thread of the team to be, London-based with a London heartbeat’

London’s promotion campaign in 2023 came with a group largely made up of players from in and around the capital, and upon promotion, Eccles vowed to maintain that.

Now preparing for the Championship oncemore, it’s no surprise that ethos hasn’t changed, as he explained: “We’ve also opened negotiations with a series of other players as well.

“There are some players we might be looking to bring back to the club, who have London connections.

“That’s still the way I want the thread of the team to be, London-based with a London heartbeat.

“It’s exciting times and things have started moving in terms of the squad.

“We’ll have a lot more updates and we’ll put a squad together ready for (pre-season in) November.”

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