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The latest chapter in the London Broncos story came to a low-key end on Sunday afternoon with a Championship victory in Widnes, but if the men now tasked with reviving one of rugby league’s most turbulent clubs have their way, there will be no more days that sombre again.
It is to the immense credit of a handful of individuals that professional rugby league is still alive in London at all. Last winter, when the club’s longstanding owner, David Hughes, announced he was stepping away, it was left to the figures such as the head coach, Mike Eccles, to get them through a winter of huge discontent, with finances almost at breaking point.
Eccles had to rebuild a squad that was gutted after relegation from the Super League and 2025 was a difficult one, but there were shoots of optimism as the year went on. Leeds Rhinos’ chief executive, Gary Hetherington, completed a deal to come on board as owner while the latest group of homegrown talent began to show London has a valuable pathway for the game.
But now things are very different. Darren Lockyer, one of rugby league’s all-time greats, has agreed a deal to buy a 90% stake in the Broncos alongside his business partner, Grant Wechsel. They have submitted an application to be in Super League in 2026 and are keen not to waste any time.
The former South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou will helm the team no matter what division London are in, with Eccles to be given a new role working with the club’s youth development programme. The Australia international Reagan Campbell-Gillard is believed to be heading for the capital, and they had flirted with interest in Sydney Roosters’ Victor Radley.
A few months ago, London were in full-on survival mode. Now, they are owned by two individuals who are aiming high. “People ask me why,” Lockyer says. “The biggest draw card by far is that it’s London. But for whatever reason it hasn’t really worked here, and that’s exciting to me too. Can we do it better? I believe we can. We’re going to rebuild it from scratch.”
Due to the complexity of the system that will form a 14-team Super League in 2026 – the top 12 will be selected through the IMG gradings, with another two teams handpicked by an “independent panel” – Lockyer’s plans for Super League dominance are on hold until mid-October, when the 14 successful teams are revealed.
But the new regime is undeterred if it does not make the cut and the club have to spend 2026 in the Championship. Before the end of the year, a soft rebrand will launch, keeping the Broncos name but refreshing London’s identity, with plans afoot for a documentary that could include former owners such as Hughes and Richard Branson.
However, it is on-field where the big turnover will take place. “There are a group of NRL players we’re engaging with even if we’re in the Championship,” Wechsel says. “If it was to be Super League, we could look at real marquee players who will get people talking in Sydney, not just in London. We’re proceeding on the basis of pre-contract commitments.”
“My theory is that anywhere from six to 10 players need to be added to the squad and it could be very competitive in Super League,” Lockyer says. “I don’t think we play any playoff games next year, but we should be on the fringes with what we’ve got planned.”
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One area London teams have consistently struggled in a congested sporting market is attracting new fans. Even at the height of their powers in the late-1990s when they reached the 1999 Challenge Cup final, attendances never flourished. Lockyer and Wechsel’s plan to change that is two-pronged: first, by trying to engage the tens of thousands of Australians who live in the capital.
But the pair will also invest huge sums into trying to poach more young talent away from other sports in London. “If in 10 years you’ve got most of your players hailing from London, that’s the perfect outcome,” Lockyer says. “We need to get the London brand out there. The optics of the club historically are horrendous.
“That means getting more people attracted to the brand and more kids wanting to play our game. There’s millions of people in London, so there’s bound to be some tremendous rugby league athletes in waiting. That’s what Mike will be able to target with the new resources available.”
However, for the next month Lockyer’s wider plans to transform rugby league in London are on hold until they know what division they will be in next year. An affiliation with the National Rugby League heavyweights Brisbane Broncos is possible down the line too. It is exciting for London and exciting for the game, but ultimately we have been here before with grand visions for the sport in the capital.
You do suspect that if one of the greatest rugby league players of all time cannot inspire a change in fortunes after so long in the shadows, then nobody can.
