LONDON BRONCOS coach Mike Eccles says everyone involved should be proud after completing a testing season with an eighth victory from 24 league matches and a final position of tenth.

The club’s future, under an incoming new ownership group led by Brisbane Broncos legend Darren Lockyer, is certainly looking brighter, with a top-flight berth in 2026 a possibility.

But it was mainly down to Eccles and chief executive Jason Loubser that the (London) Broncos made the 2025 starting line after oil magnate David Hughes withdrew his financial backing and put the club up for sale in the wake of last year’s loss of Super League status.

With London Skolars having dropped out of League One after the 2023 season (as Eccles and the Broncos celebrated winning the Championship Grand Final and therefore a place in Super League), there was a real chance professional Rugby League might have disappeared from the capital’s sporting landscape.

However Eccles, who has been at the club in various capacities since 2012 and replaced Jermaine Coleman as team chief in mid-2022, worked with Loubser to keep thing going, and piece together a squad, with renowned administrator Gary Hetherington then taking the ownership reins with the aim of attracting new investment.

That has now materialised, and while Eccles has confirmed his reign as coach is coming to an end, with ex-South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou incoming, the 40-year-old looks set to remain on the staff in another capacity.

Just as the division Demetriou’s side will in is to be confirmed, so is the make-up of the squad, and reflecting on the final-round 20-10 win at Widnes, Eccles explained: “While there is good news, it was a bit of an insecure week beforehand, because that’s the nature of takeovers.

“This season was all about getting through, and the players have battled and shown real character to get us to the point we are at. To sign off with that win made me so proud.”