LONDON BRONCOS back Luke Polselli says he and the rest of the capital club’s threadbare squad must find a way of cranking up the pressure on opponents if they are to climb the table.
In the long term, there are high hopes of a far brighter future for the Broncos following the club’s acquisition by seasoned Rugby League administrator Gary Hetherington.
He is planning a major rebrand, fuelled by investment from Down Under, with a return to Super League the aim, and Australian centre Brandon Webster-Mansfield has been added on a deal to 2026.
However, in the short term, coach Mike Eccles continues to operate with a small and is some areas inexperienced pool of players.
Injuries meant he was restricted to naming only 18 in his initial (21-man) squad for the recent trip to Doncaster, where his side led 8-6 at half-time only to go down 30-12 – the eighth defeat in their first ten league games.
The Broncos then lost 12-10 at home to Widnes on Saturday.
However, versatile Australian Polselli, a close-season signing from Queensland Cup side Sunshine Coast Falcons, is in no mood for excuses, saying: “If you are given the jersey, you have to go out there and do your job.
“That Doncaster game was really disappointing. We had spoken about how we wanted to put pressure on them, but we didn’t do that.
“Our end-of-sets weren’t good enough. We needed to put them into corners and force them to turn around and then have to work hard to get up the field. You can’t expect to win games when you give teams easy piggy-backs.”
The Italy international added: “We didn’t press Doncaster enough, and we put pressure on ourselves through unforced errors and silly penalties. It’s not a fitness thing, it’s mindset, and we have to have accountability.”