Jason Demetriou outlines London Broncos’ long-term pathway hopes in passionate plea

London Broncos head coach Jason Demetriou has stressed the need for his side to build a core of southern players, citing his desire to hear ‘more southern accents’ around the club.

The Broncos have undergone a dramatic squad overhaul in the past few months, following the takeover of Grant Weschel and Darren Lockyer, but still have a decent group of players from outside of the rugby league heartlands within their 29-man roster.

They have also seen a number of exciting academy players picked up by Super League sides in recent years, most recently Bill and Oli Leyland.

‘Long-term, we want southern boys growing up excited to become a Bronco’

London have also dipped into the overseas market during their off-season rebuild, but the coach insists his long-term hopes are on growing the southern contingent within the side, be it senior players or promising youngsters.

“For me, it’s massive. The more southern accents we hear, the better, and I say that sincerely. Long-term, we want southern boys, and from London in particular, growing up excited to become a Bronco.

“Hopefully, in the next five or six years, we can have 40% or 50% of boys playing Super League for the Broncos that have come up through our pathway system.

“We saw that last time we had a strong pathways team and the guys that went up north, like Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, who went on and had good careers in Super League. It’s about building that again.”]

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But building a strong pathway is easier said than done, particularly in a city as sportingly diverse as London.

The Capital city is home to seven Premier League football clubs, a number of strong Championship football clubs as well as two top flight rugby union sides in Harlequins and Saracens.

Despite the competition from other sports for both players and eyeballs, Demetriou feels the club have a plan to develop their youth programme.

“First and foremost, we need to have a club that people want to watch play and be a part of,” he said. “I think what Grant and Lockie are doing is definitely creating some interest around the place.

“Then we need to get out, engage in the community and show our product.

“We have a fantastic product. Rugby league is one of the best games you’ll watch and one of the best TV games you’ll see on the box.

“We need to get into the schools and grow our pathways programme, which has dropped away over the past three or four years, but the early signs are that there’s interest from London kids. There are some goals for what we want to achieve outside of what happens with the first-team, and that’s a big part of it.”

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