That’s really bad news about Norman.
Probably could have coped with Whare leaving but Norman also going leaves a massive quality deficit in the squad.

In fairness I would have thought top 5 Championship team. Cant argue with the rest though. Very, very strange.

The only sane conclusion I can come up with to explain the current insanity is given that we know we will be excluded from SL in 25. So are taking the Sky/SL money & spending aslittle as possible this year with a view to mitigating Hughes' input financially & having some for a Championship side next year.

Trouble is, in SL years gone by, we have spent to the cap or claimed to have & have had a very average team. Wouldn't trust Hughes or Lobster to spend the money well.

I see where you’re coming from here DC but the problem is they are all on a 1 which means they could all fly off at the end of the season leaving us without a well oiled Championship team in 2025. If they were in 2s that would make sense although even if we won the league we wouldn’t get promoted but it might be exciting. Really not sure what we are up to.

Quote ="Knocker_White"Well there we go https://www.totalrl.com/london-broncos- ... ague-2024/'" Total RL vote; do you prefer: a) "Star" players b) Railway stations? News has reached Leigh (by the Mail Bus) that "Corey of The Brown Fingers " will not be in SL next year and Oli Holmes is said to be starting to unclench. Please follow Leopards' X feed for nanometer by nanometer progress reports.

Quote ="Knocker_White"Well there we go https://www.totalrl.com/london-broncos- ... ague-2024/'" Total RL vote; do you prefer: a) "Star" players b) Railway stations? News has reached Leigh (by the Mail Bus) that "Corey of The Brown Fingers " will not be in SL next year and Oli Holmes is said to be starting to unclench. Please follow Leopards' X feed for nanometer by nanometer progress reports.

News breaking we have signed Fullback Josh Rourke from Batley. Well thought of player which is a definite plus.

Help me out here though. If Boafo or Macani take a spill who is covering the wing spot? Who has replaced Norman and Whare?

That's an odd one. He'd only just signed for Batley. He's a kicker which is a bonus.

That is a definite bonus. But then so was Coates.

Looks a decent talent, maybe we have signed him to play centre? If the Lawton signing happens, then maybe we'll see Ethan make the switch back to centre?

It Makes no difference what the plan









is. Hughes killed us between 2009-2013 and has been paying guilt money ever since. We could rip up SL in 2024 and we'd still be a championship side in '25 and we will be back to a few hundred fans with the same or worse IMG grading.

Hughes is full of . He's scrapped the academy supposedly to focus on gaining grading points. The side being assembled isn't looking like it's going to gain much more in terms of performance points than we would in the Championship. Added to that, while we'll get more away fans next season, we won't build the home crowd with a side that is uncompetitive.

So the Reserves are moving to RP alongside the first team. Feels like a reasonably positive step following the Academy announcement. Sounds like we have been able to keep hold of a majority of last seasons Academy team too, although I assume by that the club means the older age group players.

Beginning to look like rumours about Maloudi are true. The pluses are he’s a real X factor player and appears to be a popular guy. The downside is he is inconsistent and it’s suggested has put on a couple of pounds. Could be a good buy for us but another who hasn’t been plying their trade in the SL recently. We really are taking a high risk approach to SL success. All will be revealed in the opening games of the season whether it’s a good or bad risk.

Maloudi has signed, joining us subject to gaining a visa.

While agree with the concern particularly as its SL rather than Chump league, Whare and Norman were both in French leagues so possible to readapt. And can see Eccles giving him a very clear diet and exercise plan to get him match fit. But yes a risk.

Good points, if anyone can get him fit and firing it will be Mike. I like the signing. Gives us a bit of "x-factor" and SL experience.

Hakim Miloudi confirmed subject to visa.

Squad numbers announced. Thought it was 1st April when I got to the end of the list.

1. Alex Walker
3. Jarred Bassett
4. Hakim Miloudi
5. Iliess Macani
7. James Meadows
8. Rob Butler
9. Sam Davis
10. Lewis Bienek
11. Will Lovell
12. Ethan Natoli
13. Dean Parata
14. Bill Leyland
15. Marcus Stock
16. Jordan Williams
17. Sadiq Adebiyi
18. Emmanuel Waine
19. Rhys Kennedy
20. Oli Leyland
21. Robbie Storey
22. Gideon Boafo
23. Josh Rourke
24. Matt Davies
25. Harry Stevens
26. Jensen Monk
27. Dan Hoyes
28. Jack Hughes

A couple of notable gaps in the early numbers.

You can feel SL quivering with fear already. In the unlikely event of Jack Hughes (Hughes Junior?) taking the pitch, would that be the first time a club owner has played in SL?

Is that the official announcement that Dalton Grant and Rian Horsman have departed ... or have I missed that ?

Some sort of tax dodge ?

Fingers crossed he's better at that than he is running a rugby club.

You’ve been around the Broncos set up long enough now Smithers to see how we roll!

So let’s unilaterally assist the club by thanking the very popular and likeable Dalton Grant for his contribution especially this season and to commiserate with young Rian who was always around on match days and had been with the club for a number of years and put in a number of good performances last year. He was unfortunate with injuries and ultimately we’ll never know whether he would have lived up to the hype.

As an aside we seem to have culled a few of last year’s crop of young players which is a bit of a surprise and given only Stevens a step up. I assume the other lads we saw on the training video will be reserve team players.

From the training video Eccles expertise on the conditioning/diet side will undoubtedly assist here as per Miloudi.

I think BT i saw that you are on the Reserves roster. A good season & you could be on the bench for our first championship game of 2025.

24+ JH and an academy step up. It’s nowhere near as bad as last year but we again start with a light squad. On the plus side there is competition for places in a number of positions which is a positive.