• Coach Tony Rea says club has 'attitude'
• Four debutants could face Bradford Bulls
For the past month or so, as his London Broncos team have been dismissed as certainties to be relegated from the Super League at the end of this season, Tony Rea has not really bothered to argue. He knew he did not have much of a case, the club's preparations having been horribly undermined by the uncertainty over their future that lingered until they confirmed yet another move, this time to share with Barnet at The Hive.
But as they prepared to head north for their third game of the season at Bradford on Sunday afternoon, Rea was quietly bullish. "Play the long game," said the Queenslander, whose association with the London club stretches way back to when they were first named the Broncos in 1994 shortly before the Super League revolution, and he arrived from North Sydney as a hooker.
"It feels better each day down here. It's been tough for everyone, holding it together through the winter. But now everyone's in a really positive mood."
Reinforcements have arrived, from the north and from Australia, and Rea may include four debutants at Bradford – James Greenwood, a loan signing from Wigan, plus the imports Ben Farrar, Josh Drinkwater and Nick Slyney. The Broncos are off the bottom of the table, albeit without a point, as a result of the six-point deduction imposed on Bradford for entering administration for the second time in three seasons.
Suddenly for London, the possibility of finishing above Bradford and one other club – most obviously Wakefield, who have also lost their first two games after a troubled winter – does not seem so outlandish. "I'm hoping that we're going to see that attitude coming through from the rugby league people in London and the south," Rea said. "We eyeballed some pretty horrible things, but we've still got a club, we've got a good new place, and they should know that there's a good bunch of blokes here who are giving everything in a real tough situation."
Rea highlights the contribution of Scott Moore, the former St Helens and Huddersfield hooker who surprisingly opted for London when returning after a season with the North Queensland Cowboys. "I know he's got his reputation [Moore has had a couple of alcohol-related scrapes] and it raised eyebrows when we signed him, but he's been super for us since he arrived."
He has been the senior figure in a team dominated, more through necessity than design, by young southerners: Olsi Krasniqi, a prop with Albanian roots; Matt Cook, who will be facing his old club at Bradford but who started his playing career in Hemel Hempstead; and Mike Bishay, a 21-year-old scrum half who made a wider impression on the ITV dating show Take Me Out two weeks ago.
Rea and the Broncos take pride, but must also inwardly curse, the growing number of products of their development scheme who have been snapped up by wealthier clubs in the north – Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook at St Helens, Dan Sarginson and Tony Clubb at Wigan, and several others. If they are to make a more rounded contribution to the Super League than that they desperately need fresh investment to allow David Hughes, who has kept them going for the best part of a decade, to take a step back.
But soon, if not at Odsal on Sunday, they need to show an ability to compete this season. Rea's quiet confidence is reassuring. Reported by guardian.co.uk 51 minutes ago.
• Four debutants could face Bradford Bulls
For the past month or so, as his London Broncos team have been dismissed as certainties to be relegated from the Super League at the end of this season, Tony Rea has not really bothered to argue. He knew he did not have much of a case, the club's preparations having been horribly undermined by the uncertainty over their future that lingered until they confirmed yet another move, this time to share with Barnet at The Hive.
But as they prepared to head north for their third game of the season at Bradford on Sunday afternoon, Rea was quietly bullish. "Play the long game," said the Queenslander, whose association with the London club stretches way back to when they were first named the Broncos in 1994 shortly before the Super League revolution, and he arrived from North Sydney as a hooker.
"It feels better each day down here. It's been tough for everyone, holding it together through the winter. But now everyone's in a really positive mood."
Reinforcements have arrived, from the north and from Australia, and Rea may include four debutants at Bradford – James Greenwood, a loan signing from Wigan, plus the imports Ben Farrar, Josh Drinkwater and Nick Slyney. The Broncos are off the bottom of the table, albeit without a point, as a result of the six-point deduction imposed on Bradford for entering administration for the second time in three seasons.
Suddenly for London, the possibility of finishing above Bradford and one other club – most obviously Wakefield, who have also lost their first two games after a troubled winter – does not seem so outlandish. "I'm hoping that we're going to see that attitude coming through from the rugby league people in London and the south," Rea said. "We eyeballed some pretty horrible things, but we've still got a club, we've got a good new place, and they should know that there's a good bunch of blokes here who are giving everything in a real tough situation."
Rea highlights the contribution of Scott Moore, the former St Helens and Huddersfield hooker who surprisingly opted for London when returning after a season with the North Queensland Cowboys. "I know he's got his reputation [Moore has had a couple of alcohol-related scrapes] and it raised eyebrows when we signed him, but he's been super for us since he arrived."
He has been the senior figure in a team dominated, more through necessity than design, by young southerners: Olsi Krasniqi, a prop with Albanian roots; Matt Cook, who will be facing his old club at Bradford but who started his playing career in Hemel Hempstead; and Mike Bishay, a 21-year-old scrum half who made a wider impression on the ITV dating show Take Me Out two weeks ago.
Rea and the Broncos take pride, but must also inwardly curse, the growing number of products of their development scheme who have been snapped up by wealthier clubs in the north – Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook at St Helens, Dan Sarginson and Tony Clubb at Wigan, and several others. If they are to make a more rounded contribution to the Super League than that they desperately need fresh investment to allow David Hughes, who has kept them going for the best part of a decade, to take a step back.
But soon, if not at Odsal on Sunday, they need to show an ability to compete this season. Rea's quiet confidence is reassuring. Reported by guardian.co.uk 51 minutes ago.