As I sit here writing this article on a warm Monday morning, many Bronco fans are left wondering where it has all gone wrong this season, and more importantly how we have beaten teams away but yet haven’t beaten them at home.
London are currently 9th in the table and have only managed one win in the ‘month of madness’ which leaves us 1 point off the playoffs with one of the worst points differences in the league. With that one win also being the only win at home.
I do feel the team have under achieved, in more ways than one. After all who would have thought that we would make history by beating Bradford, Wigan, Hull away for the first time and Cas away but yet loose to Warrington, Halifax and to a certain extent Cas at home? With all respect to the three teams named I feel these are teams London should be getting comfortable wins over and not dropping two points to.
At times this season the side has shown the potential like it has in many other seasons to beat the best and to be around the best, silencing all the critics that have said London shouldn’t have a Super League team. However at others we have seen them be outplayed and self destruct to teams we would should be beating in my opinion, fuelling the critics’ case that we shouldn’t be playing top flight ruby. All those wins above bar the Cas victory were history making, however the losses below seem to be a regular occurrence. I just feel it is a shame that we can’t follow up these away victories with the ones at home. Whilst I understand that we had injuries and sides aren’t expected to win every game, the thing that annoys me is how we have games won but then throw them away. Yes we do have a small squad and yes we do have 3-4 injuries however is it that really an excuse for letting sides snatch 2 points off us?
I have picked out one game from the season, just to emphasise my point and how we are dropping ‘easy’ points in games we should win or are very dominant in. That game is the Hull game at home and of course that pull on Dennis Moran in the dying seconds of the game. Everyone I speak to is saying it’s going to cost us the play offs, but yet I fail to see how though, yes we should have had a penalty and yes we probably would have scored. However in that game we had chances no end to wrap the game up but failed to do so. We also did let Hull back in to it with some lack luster tackling, I would like to remind the readers that we did have a 10 point lead if memory servers me correct and no matter how bad that pull back was, we should never have let Hull score those 10 points,, to make the incident matter. These events though are not one offs but are a pattern of the Broncos season and so I feel questions have to be asked why this is happening. Look at Saints, or Bradford they both had losing streaks this year but yet are still in the play offs and you rarely see them throw away a lead but yet London do. I just feel it’s a shame that London always seem to lack that final finish that would make them one of the best sides in the league.
Obviously the Broncos season hasn’t been helped by having a small side and this has been shown in the ‘month of madness’. From the moment it was announced I had my doubts and worries about it, not even the likes of the classic Brisbane side a few years ago could have done anything if they were given that fixture list. It was very unfair on the boys and they shouldn’t or should never have to have to play that many games in a month it’s ludicrous. Questions have to be asked why it was allowed to happen; after all we can second guess the staff at the Broncos didn’t want it. It’s not for me to speculate but I feel many supporters of the game don’t want to see it happening again. However one of the reasons it was allowed to happen was because of out ground situation and with us sharing with Brentford. This happens every year and every year the board attempt to find a better solution but yet there isn’t one forth coming. How comes no other club has to do it I hear you ask? After all Wigan and Hull play at football grounds. I also know that it is something to do with the pitch and how it’s laid, but why is it whatever club we go to they have this pitch but yet other clubs who also mixed rugby and football don’t have this problem.
Now I don’t want anybody to think that I am anti London or that I am just whinging. I love the Broncos and have been to 90% of the home games in the last 4 years. The London boys are one of the best sets of lads in the Superleague they’ll talk to you before and after the game, share a drink with you and just be like a mate, we cannot forget they are also a very talented lot. They always acknowledge their fans, and appreciate us coming you just have to listen to them after the match. Which is why it is a shame we are lying in 9th. I just wanted to give a dose of realism to everyone, yes we are a good side but at the same time we can be our own worst enemy and we just have to ask why this is and what can be done to improve the situation. Like many of you I want to see London in the top 6 but I just feel on current form they won’t do it and one of the ways we are going to do this is by getting a long term future, which is a lot harder than it sounds!
London good luck with the rest of your season and let’s hope it has a different outcome to the one I predict.
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