London Broncos have strengthened their backroom staff with the appointment of Joe Grima as assistant coach.
Grima has a wealth of experience in the NRL and is excited about the move to London.
“I am looking forward to the opportunity, having worked and coached in the NRL for the past five years,” he said.
“I am looking forward working with Tony Rea, Sean Long and the Broncos players in providing a competitive team each week whenever we take the field.
“Given the challenges of last year and more recently this year in the logistics of relocating and recruiting new players to the club, I will be able to use my experience in the NRL to assist in implementing training programmes while mentoring players to be the best prepared they can be.”
Grima played and coached at the Parramatta Eels for 19 years and was assistant coach to Ricky Stuart at the Cronulla Sharks for three years. He coached Malta from 2005 to 2012, NSW Origin 18s in 2009 and 2010 and the Australian Junior Kangaroos in 2013 and 2014.
More recently Grima was assistant coach at the Dragons.
Broncos head coach Tony Rea said of the appointment: “Joe is a really important part of our programme. He has a wealth of experience across a number of good clubs in the NRL. He was looking for an opportunity to do something fresh and has left the Dragons to take a significant role in our programme and will have a large amount of responsibility inside of what we’re doing. “
Grima is not to be confused with the former Widnes prop of the same name who played in this country in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He will arrive in London next week.
Another Australian recruit, Denny Solomona, has still to arrive at the club; he’s waiting for visa clearance and is expected here soon.
