It doesn’t get any easier for the London Broncos in their quest for that first win of the season, writes Dave Lawrenson.
On Saturday they face the Wigan Warriors, who won the Challenge Cup and the Grand Final last season and currently lie third in the Super League table.
The following week they travel to Warrington Wolves and in their next game at The Hive they take on current league leaders St Helens.
But amidst all the doom and gloom there is a ray of hope for the future. Sustainable success in rugby league depends on developing your own players and London is starting to do just that.
Already Wigan, St Helens, Salford and Hull Kingston Rover boast Broncos-produced players and there seems to be plenty more where they came from.
In the game against Widnes Vikings, head coach Joey Grima gave a Super League debut to Enfield-born Joe Keyes.
The team also included 19-year-old James Woodburn-Hall from Isleworth who was named Man of the Match.
And while the first team were losing to Widnes, the U19s were recording their third consecutive win against their counterparts from Super League clubs.
Grima said how proud he was of them, adding: “I think they are really important for where I want to take our club in the next two years.
“They have won three games back to back which, I understand, hasn’t been done for quite some time.
“For those guys to win without their two key players, Joe Keyes and James Woodburn-Hall, it says a little bit about our club.
“We don’t necessarily want to go to the Northern part of England or Australia and New Zealand to sign players, we want to generate players in our own back-yard.”
