Quote: wire quin "Maybe we have players signed up but not announced. They've not said who is leaving, equally they have not said who is coming in
Just a thought'"
I think you're clutching at straws, my friend.
The only time Broncos have been competitive was when they had a team full of decent quality antipodeans (with the unique situation of both Edwards and Offiah wanting to live in London at the same time). Since the removal of the import exemption, it's been downhill all the way. Partly that's because many/most northern RL players seem to have what could possibly be termed "narrow horizons" when it comes to moving away from their mum's home cooking, but it's also about the fact that an RL player's wage goes an awful lot further in Bradford than in Brentford. Couple that with the problem which the whole league is now facing, which is that it is the lowest paying of all the pro rugby competitions, whether Union or League, and you have a perfect storm.
The first possible rescue here would be for the league to abandon the salary cap just at the same time as London find an Eamon McManus, Koukash or Richard Branson figure, who has bottomless pockets and a long-term commitment. It's not likely.
The second, which to be fair, London have been trying, is to develop your own players. Unfortunately, as even Saints - with all their advantages - have found, for every dozen players you develop through your academy, you'll be lucky if one becomes a genuine game-changer, as opposed to an identikit solid-but-unremarkable second-row. London have sadly run out of time for this solution.
However, I think the malaise goes deeper than just that. London did identify some decent players, and they did buy in some proven quality from Australia. But none of those players are playing remotely as well as they theoretically could. This has remained the case now from McDermott through Powell and now Rea, so I don't think it's necessarily about coaching. In fact I think it's really telling that Noble refused to take the job, even when he could have had it. Noble isn't a thick man, and he recognised that while London might - on paper - have better players than Salford, the fact was that Salford as a club have an energy and life about them which suggests that there is a future which players can be persuaded to strive for. London, on the other hand, is a walking corpse.
Rugby league is a hard game, and players have to do physically risky things which in other walks of life would be considered insane. For that, it helps a lot if there's a sense of purpose. That purpose can come from a decent-sized and passionate crowd, the fear of financial or status loss through replacement in the team, or a chance of success. IT can also come from the sense that there is a good future ahead, and the player is part of something going forward. None of those things are present at London, and haven't been for the best part of a decade now. It's all very well appealing to a player's professionalism, but the extra few percentages which win you games at the top level require more than just some innate journeyman professionalism. People need hope to throw themselves at the legs of a charging prop. They need to feel that there's a chance that sacrifice has purpose. This is the same whether the club is amateur or professional. Even the worst amateur club will find its training numbers increase and its on-field effort lift when there's a chance of some poxy shield in the losers' competition, while the strongest team will find it's short-staffed and often beaten by lesser opposition if the players perceive the game as being without meaning, or have a sense of a club winding down.
London has that sense in spades. The last games I attended at the Stoop felt like I was at a closing down sale in Blackpool in November. There was no sense that this was a place anybody actually wanted to be. There was no hope of a victory, and there was no clear indication that there would even be a future. Just lots of people, players and fans, going through the motions because they didn't really know what else to do.
I hope there's a big announcement in the next week. I hope one of those overcompensated rich s from the City remembers he was originally from Leeds or Wigan, used to enjoy a game of rugby league as a kid, and notices that he can make London the richest club in the UK with half of his annual bonus. I hope a new ground is announced, and a bunch of new players to give a sense of going forward, as opposed to decaying inertia.
However, I suspect we're still looking at the end of London Broncos in a couple of months' time.
