London Broncos thrash Doncaster 78-6 but Super League promotion still unresolved
London Broncos demolished Doncaster 78-6 at the Cherry Red Records Stadium in the Championship Grand Final on Sunday, yet whether the club will join Super League next season remains undecided. Promotion will be determined by gradings that consider both on-field and off-field criteria and by the decision over whether the top flight expands to 15 teams.
Two years ago the Broncos were relegated from Super League, their ground had flooded and their owner had walked away after spending £24m of his private fortune. The club asked supporters to save them and fans wearing last year’s away jersey listing those saviours’ names, including mine, were among the proudest people in the ground on Sunday. London demolished the second tier this season, winning 26 of their 27 games and completing a second-tier treble, but supporters cannot celebrate promotion until the off-field assessments and the expansion decision are resolved.
A year ago the Broncos were still on the brink of folding, with Australian investors Grant Wechsel and Darren Lockyer stepping in and pushing the club on a steep upward curve. The article says London are due a break after a run of ill fortune: relegated on points difference in 2019, affected by Toronto’s collapse during the pandemic when London would likely have survived, and condemned to the drop before the 2024 season after the league introduced the IMG grading system. Those episodes are presented as context for why promotion this winter is not automatic despite the Championship title.
Historically the Championship winners usually replace the bottom Super League side, with the exception of 2020 when Leigh were chosen to replace Toronto, but that pattern will not hold this winter because Bradford are not going down despite finishing last. The matchday at the Cherry Red Records Stadium gave a picture of the club’s momentum: fans arriving early, teenagers draped in personalised Broncos flags, queues at busy bars usually closed, and supporters in old Broncos jerseys returning to the ground. The new owners have focused on cheap tickets, unmatched access, a winning team and atmosphere, and the piece suggests that with a competitive budget London could follow the examples of Leigh, Wakefield and Hull KR over the next decade.
As the only full-time team in the Championship, London lost just once in 24 league matches, although the unique fixture format meant the Broncos did not play Newcastle, who finished as runners-up, at all during the campaign. Sunday’s final was the fifth meeting with Doncaster, a situation described in the article as farcical and one hoped to be avoided when the Championship switches to two conferences of 10. Speaking before the match, the Broncos coach Jason Demetriou said Doncaster were the the best team they had faced in the Championship this season, but London still scored 14 tries and Reagan Campbell-Gillard, a two-time World Cup winner, was noted for blasting holes in Doncaster’s defence.
Demetriou, who is also the Papua New Guinea coach, is due to fly to Port Moresby for the World Cup and said he does not yet know whether he needs to build a Super League squad over the next month or start again in the Championship. Twenty Broncos players have signed up for next year with another eight or nine waiting to see what the RFL decides. “I’ve prepared plans A and B but it’s difficult because there are totally different budgets, overseas quotas and new salary cap limits,” he said. “I’ve not yet got my head round [it] and it all affects recruitment.”
Broncos fielded 11 overseas imports in the final, but the man of the match was Jimmy Meadows from Teddington, who has been used at hooker, halfback and fullback this season after returning from a spell at Bradford. “Jimmy played a huge part of the season,” said Demetriou. “It was clear how passionate he was about London and wanting to be a part of it. I told him how hard he would have to work to get into our team, and he had no qualms about that at all. Week by week he’s established himself as one of our most important players. I have so much trust in Jimmy and am really excited about him having a chance to go back into Super League.” Demetriou also highlighted the contributions of part-time players Will Lovell, Alex Walker and Marcus Stock and stressed the importance of a local core, saying: “We have to create an environment in which Londoners can’t wait to put on a London shirt. Until people want to stay here to win trophies we’ll keep on losing our players to other teams. There’s been a pattern of them wanting to establish themselves here then go north to win titles. We want southerners to chase titles here in London. For us to be successful we need to go after the biggest clubs in the game. That’s our intention.”
Eight of the Wakefield players who were promoted from the Championship two years ago became Super League champions at Old Trafford on Saturday night. Six of the seven Papua New Guinea players at the Broncos will join up with Demetriou in Port Moresby this week to prepare for their opener against Lebanon, but several players who featured in the Super League Grand Final will miss out on the World Cup. England coach Brian McDermott left out Wakefield players Mike McMeeken, Jake Trueman, Tom Johnstone and Caleb Hamlin-Uele — all reportedly injured — and excluded two Warrington internationals, Danny Walker and James Harrison, while selecting Warrington trio George Williams, Matty Ashton and Ben Currie. Other Grand Finalists not going include three Ireland internationals, Scotland winger Lachlan Walmsley and Zac Lipowicz of Poland, and the piece notes it may be the first time the champions of England have no players in the England squad.
This week the RFL will complete the grading process and decide whether to expand Super League to 15 teams, which will determine whether London are promoted, while Demetriou and six Papua New Guinea players travel to Port Moresby to prepare for PNG’s World Cup opener against Lebanon.