Strongest London side in years, says Brown

Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown believes the 2012 London Broncos is the strongest side he’s seen from the capital since his arrival at the Giants.

Since reaching the Super League play-offs in 2005, the London club have slowly fallen down the ladder, finishing 7th in 2006 before back to back 9th placed finishes.

They have managed just 13 wins in the past two seasons, finishing 13th and 12th respectively, and coach Rob Powell has overseen a number of personnel changes over the close season as the club re-branded from Harlequins to its previous guise once again.

Brown told the club’s official website: “I think it is by far the most talented London side I have seen since I’ve been here, there are a lot of new players at the club so they are probably still learning a lot about each other. I think if they can avoid injury they’ll be a side that keeps on improving as the year goes on.”

The Broncos are one of only two clubs yet to pick up any points in Super League this season, a far cry from the last campaign where they won four of their first five matches, before going on to win only two more league games after that.

They have brought in a number of new faces, including dangerous half-back pairing Michael Witt and Craig Gower, and the former Australia international is no stranger to Brown.

He added: “Craig Gower has only had a couple of league games in five years, but is very competitive and as much as I know about him, his team mates may not and it will take time, they will have a lot to learn about each other and what suits them, however, what they do have are some very talented players down there.”

Huddersfield were comfortable 50-12 winners when Harlequins travelled to the Galpharm Stadium in the penultimate round of 2011, but it was a much closer affair on the Giants’ last trip to the capital, where Nathan Brown’s men ran out 18-10 victors thanks to tries from Graeme Horne, Jermaine McGillvary and Luke O’Donnell.