Championship Talk: Bucking Broncos

fevnut's blog is absolutely delighted to have received permission to bring you a regular column from Gareth Walker.

Gareth is a top rugby league journalist who has one very exceptional distinction. He chooses to write about matters pertaining to the Championship and League One.

Although this blog is devoted to Featherstone Rovers it is always good to read opinions about matters relevant to us, but not specifically about us. We hope you enjoy reading Gareth's column each week.

Bucking Broncos

YOU’D have got long odds on the last undefeated team in the Betfred Championship this year being London Broncos.

          Such was the extent that Danny Ward’s side were written off, that one high profile pundit predicted they would finish as low as tenth.

          Perhaps it was Ward’s inexperience as a head coach - this is his first senior job - or the fact that the Broncos only brought Matty Fleming into their squad from 2017.

          But that continuity - both in appointing Andrew Henderson’s assistant as his successor and in keeping fundamentally the same team - appear to be strengths not weaknesses.

          On Sunday, their impressive start to the season hit a new high when they emphatically dispatched the previously unbeaten Toronto 47-16 at their West Ealing Trailfinders base.

          And they did so with six members of the team having come through their own development pathway.

          Given the stumbles of pre-season competition favourites Leigh, and the fallibility of Toronto, Ward’s side already look a solid bet to make the top four and the Qualifiers.

          Not that Ward himself will be buying into that notion.

          He was asked countless times about the gloomy predictions before the season kicked off, and each time responded that he wasn’t worried about what will happen in September, but what will unfold next week.

          It’s an old cliché in many respects - but one that appears to be serving the Broncos well.

          At the hub of their stirring start to the year has been maverick halfback Jarrod Sammut, whose time has taken in spells at Crusaders, Bradford, Wakefield, Featherstone and Workington.

          But Sammut now appears to have found the perfect place to display his unquestionable talent, and perhaps he will get another shot at Super League with the Broncos.

          As Ward would doubtless tell you, it’s way too early to be speaking that way in terms of 2018.

          But the Broncos, who have made the Qualifiers for the last two seasons, have built steadily and now have a squad that knows what it takes to succeed in this position.

          Off the field, they have a base in West Ealing that allows their impressive junior system to train on the same site as the first team, something that also seems to be having a beneficial effect.

          They won’t get carried away with their achievements so far this year, but the Broncos deserve some time in the spotlight for their measured approach to gradual progression, and don’t expect it to stop any time soon.