What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduates? : Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:23 pm  

If London Broncos could retrieve and re-sign all their southern born or raised graduates, who have subsequently been successful in Super League, and just added 6 Aussies or Kiwis, and 8 northerner Englishmen, they would have a strong Super League quality team with a southern England core

Keiran Dixon (London), Daniel Sarginson (Wigan), Michael Channing (London), Mason Caton-Brown (Wakefield)


Louis McCarthy Scarsbrook (St Helens)
Michael McMeeken (Castleford), George Griffin (Salford)
Anthony Clubb (Wigan), Olsi Krasniqi (Toronto)

Interchange: Lewis Bienek (London),

This list is meant to show how important it is to have a professional Super League team in London to attract southern talent to make a career playing rugby league.

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:29 pm  

Why stop at the broncos, what about Leeds, Cas, Wakey, Wigan, Saints, Bradford.

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:35 pm  

little wayne69 wrote:

Why stop at the broncos, what about Leeds, Cas, Wakey, Wigan, Saints, Bradford.

Because the clubs you mention are all northern, and except for Bradford, all in Super League and thus inspire and attract northern youth. My point pertains to southern England.

There are thousands of players in southern England who need a local professional club to inspire them to keep playing and climb the career ladder to full professionalism.

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 1:03 pm  

London were in SL for 19 seasons, and you can come up with a list of 9 successful southern born/raised players? Albeit some players will have come and gone, it sounds like an argument against having London in SL rather than being a positive to me.

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 6:21 pm  

JEAN CAPDOUZE wrote:

If London Broncos could retrieve and re-sign all their southern born or raised graduates, who have subsequently been successful in Super League, and just added 6 Aussies or Kiwis, and 8 northerner Englishmen, they would have a strong Super League quality team with a southern England core

If my Auntie had bo%^ocks she'd be my uncle. Do me a favour Bazza, stick to getting wet and sticky over the French and Canadians, but leave us alone.

HXSparky wrote:

London were in SL for 19 seasons, and you can come up with a list of 9 successful southern born/raised players? Albeit some players will have come and gone, it sounds like an argument against having London in SL rather than being a positive to me.

London is key to the growth of the sport. Until the RFL cut funding for Development Officers the region was going great guns with a southern schools side playing and winning at Wembley. Given the players mentioned by chorley John are all from the last decade, that's a pretty good return for 1 side in a development area. Clubb and LMS picked up England caps, with Clubb scoring 4 tries for England against a tough PNG outfit....a feat that was ignored compared to the gushing when Little Sammy from Milton Keynes repeated it a couple of years later against a p155 poor France.....and a side built on Cockney foundations just ripped a Toronto side packed with mercenaries and a questionable understanding of the salary cap a new 'arris, so I'd say you should doff your flat cap to the south and be thankful we still exist

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 7:36 pm  

To be fair, I don't disagree with what you've said, and I'm very happy to have the Broncos in the competition. A brilliant result today, but my point (badly made) relating to the OP was more that just because they're based in London why should they deserve to be "given" a place in SL? As with all teams, they should earn their place on the field of play (imo). Based on current form they look most likely to make their mark in the 8's.

Btw, flat caps are traditionally made in Yorkshire, but there are very limited geographical areas that wear them regularly. Featherstone is the prime example, but Peaky Blinders show that other areas of the country have embraced this style of headgear in other parts of the country as well.

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 7:51 pm  

Jean, London need to look forward not backwards, we are where we are. The youth set up has reinvented itself and is producing good players. As you saw today many are now in the first team squad.

Wardy is gradually introducing them into the first team. The club needs to build on the back of the youth programme and it won happen overnight.

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 7:58 pm  

HXSparky wrote:

t just because they're based in London why should they deserve to be "given" a place in SL?

The point about being "granted" a place rather than winning it is purely down to the question of "what do we want from the game and how do we wan't it to survive/grow"?
Without a doubt London Broncos, PSG, Crusaders were badly managed experiments with London only surviving because of the benevolence of 1 bloke. If the SL chairmen decide that they want North America involved, then I can see London being "granted" a place, purely as a marketing exercise, given most Americans can't point out their own state capital on a map, let alone Wigan, but if the chairmen decide on organic growth, then I see them going down the 2 x 10 route with 30 million in funding across both leagues and P&R........

........but it is worth reminding ourselves that without benefactors such as David Hughes at London, David Argyle at Toronto, Bernard Guasch at Catalans and the bloke who bankrolls Toulouse, we would have no expansion. The RFL and SL chairmen never had a clue other than plopping sides in various locations and expecting fans to attend and as such, if (when) Toronto goes the same way as Crusaders or PSG, I can see the game retreating back to its heartlands, which will be a shame.

I genuinely believe that as much as Perez is a good marketing guy, Toronto will have to continue with their blanked marketing PR and promotions for a decade or more to get fans to become regulars and if they start to get hammered like today in front of their own fans, then he'll have a hell of a job....David Hughes apparently spent 2 million on the Broncos in their first year in the 2nd tier.....Argyle won't be happy writing those sorts of cheques, so if they aren't promoted or "granted" a place in the next 24 months I see them vanishing

Re: What if London Broncos could re-sign their best graduate : Sun Feb 25, 2018 8:03 pm  

To answer the title of thread... they'd be $hite!