London Broncos coaching change confirmed as Mike Eccles lifts lid on ‘difficult’ week

London Broncos coach Mike Eccles has confirmed his time in charge of the Championship club has now come to an end following their final match of the season on Sunday.

The Broncos were victorious at Widnes Vikings to round off a difficult season on a relative high. They can now look ahead with excitement into the off-season and beyond following a takeover led by Brisbane Broncos legend Darren Lockyer.

As revealed by Love Rugby League last week, Eccles will be replaced by Jason Demetriou irrespective of the competition London are playing in next year, be that Super League or the Championship.

However, he will remain in a newly-created role which is likely to involve working with the club’s youth development and pathways programmes, with the new owners keen to retain a man who effectively held the Broncos together in the wake of David Hughes’ departure last winter.

And Eccles has now admitted his time as coach is over, admitting it has been a turbulent build-up to the Widnes game for him knowing it would be his final match in charge.

“It was a difficult week in some ways because it was the end of my chapter coaching the team, which people are now aware of,” he said after Sunday’s win. “It just crept up, I had no time to prepare for this job when I took it and it just feels like I’ve had no time to prepare to not coach the team. It’s just happened so quick.”

But Eccles has now stressed London can look ahead with confidence.

He said: “The last kind of three and a half years have been about showing this group and club some leadership and I’m really proud I’ve done that. This next chapter is not about surviving, it’s about higher ambition and higher expectation.

“This is what the new group want and hopefully I can support them in that journey and we keep the culture and fabric of what we have built in tough times, along with a little bit of investment and higher ambitions. That’s what this next phase is about.”

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