LONDON BRONCOS hope to make more capital out of an RFL rule which has allowed them to join Championship rivals Widnes as dual-registration partners of Warrington – as well as agreeing a deal with Salford, who also have a link-up with Barrow.
While DR agreements can’t be within the same division, clubs can form deals with two in one section if one partner team is from a ‘core’ area (Yorkshire or Lancashire) and the other from a non-‘core’ area, such as London or the Midlands.
The Broncos had already played Warrington outside backs Zac Bardsley-Rowe and Jake Thewlis on loan, with the latter scoring the late try which helped his parent club beat Leeds 16-14 in the recent landmark 5,000th Super League match since that competition’s inauguration in 1996.
And winger Alfie Johnson and loose-forward Tom Whitehead were DR inclusions as the Wimbledon-based side beat Hunslet 26-6.
That was a second win in four league outings this season for the ninth-placed Broncos, who have been operating with a small squad as they seek new investment after being put up for sale by long-time backer David Hughes after the loss of Super League status last year.
Johnson, a 23-year-old convert from rugby union, had previously played twice for Warrington and once for Widnes this term, while Whitehead, 22, had featured once for Warrington and once for Keighley, the League One team with whom his parent club also have a DR agreement.
Players have also been taken on loan from Wigan, while the line-up against Hunslet included 20-year-old debutant prop Sam Winney, last year’s Reserve player of the year who came through the juniors at Essex club Brentwood and has been in the Broncos system since he was 16.
First to come in from Salford was former Broncos hooker Sam Davis, the 26-year-old who joined the Red Devils over the close-season.