Mike Eccles is used to overcoming challenges at London Broncos. Few, perhaps, compared to the opening 10 rounds of the 2024 Betfred Super League season as the promoted side searched for that elusive first win.
There were near misses, heavy defeats, and injuries that robbed the Broncos of key players, but last Sunday, at the 11th time of asking, last year’s Betfred Championship Grand Final winners got their reward as they defeated Hull FC 34-18 at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.
It was not quite enough to lift London off the foot of the Super League table, with their vanquished opponents having a superior points difference, but for director of rugby and performance Eccles, it was more than a just reward for the efforts put in since the capital club’s return to the top flight was confirmed.
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“We’ve been working so hard since November and it’s really hard for the boys,” Eccles told Sky Sports. “We have to keep picking them up after getting knocked down every week.
“There have been some heavy scorelines and some poor performances, and in other games we’ve done some really good stuff and got beaten by 40 and that’s tough to handle.
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“You come in on a Monday and you’re trying to ready the boys and get some belief into them on the back of those drubbings and it’s tough, but credit to the boys.
“I can’t tell you how hard they work to fix up every week, but at some point, you need evidence they are getting better, and they’ve finally got that now.”
The closest the Broncos had come to getting one in the ‘W’ column had come against the same opponents in Round 3 back in March at the MKM Stadium, where a last-minute converted try from Morgan Smith got the Black and Whites over with a 28-24 victory.
In the eight games that followed that in both Super League and the Betfred Challenge Cup, however, London conceded at least 40 points in all but two of them.
James Meadows, player of the match in the win over Hull FC and a member of the Broncos squad the last time they were in Super League five years ago, insisted he and his team-mates kept faith they would get that first win sooner rather than later, though.
“We always believe in ourselves and our process we put into practice every week,” Meadows told Sky Sports. “At times, it’s not quite been there this year as it’s shown.
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“It’s tough when you don’t do that and there have been some times where we’ve had a lot of self-reflection, and I’m just pleased for all the boys we got our reward.
“We’ve worked very, very hard and it’s felt like it has been a while coming. We’ve had some performances in the past few weeks where we’ve gone all right in patches and [against Hull FC] we put it together for longer periods.”
Just to get back to Super League in the first place was a notable achievement for the Broncos after finishing fifth in the Championship in 2023 and then having to win three away games in a row in the play-offs.
Some observers were left wondering how competitive London could be this year, with some of the squad still on part-time contracts and the club having the lowest salary cap spend in the competition, but former Broncos winger and Sky Sports pundit Jon Wells hailed their first win as a big milestone.
“When they got promoted, they went away to Sheffield and won, they went away to Featherstone and won, away to Toulouse and won, and I don’t think there will be many people in the stands or inside the organisation who expected them to be playing in Super League,” Wells said.
“I know they are spending well below the salary cap, so to get a Super League two points in any round is some achievement.”
The Broncos now have just under two weeks to prepare for their next game when they host Hull FC’s cross-city rivals Hull KR, who will be Wembley-bound for the second year in a row if they come through Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Wigan Warriors, on Sunday May 26.
A trip to Salford Red Devils, who London were edged out 12-4 by last month, is then followed by clashes with the Super League big guns of St Helens and Wigan, and Eccles is hoping for more of the same as he saw against Hull FC in the weeks and months to come.
“I’ve said all year I’m gutted with the way things unfolded since we got promoted and I’m gutted we’ve not been able to put our best foot forward with our best team,” Eccles said.
“We’re still a few players light, but I believed if we keep grafting as the weeks go by, as long as we kept learning lessons and we got players back that we could put performances on like that.
“That was a proper London performance.”
Watch London Broncos vs Hull KR in Round 12 of the 2024 Betfred Super League season live on Sky Sports Arena and Sky Sports Mix from 2.55pm (3pm kick-off) on Sunday, May 26. Watch every Super League match on Sky Sports in 2024 and stream with NOW.
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