Mike Eccles Gameday Programme notes- Round 14

It is with great pleasure that we as a club can return to the Twickenham Stoop. The Stoop is steeped in Bronco’s history and provides nothing but fond memories for us all. From former players, staff, directors and fans, the Stoop is universally loved by all and has given rugby league in London some of its greatest days. The win against Canberra in 1997 will live long in the memory of all. On a personal note, the Stoop was mine and my family’s first introduction to the club back in 2012 and they can’t wait to come back. Nicola sat with our son, Daniel, as a newborn baby upstairs in the family box here. Today, Daniel will sit by my side in the coach’s box. He is Born and Bred London Broncos and it will be a proud day for us as a family to share this moment.

On to St Helens, what better opposition to welcome than The Saints. The respect we as a club have for St Helens is immense. A club that acts impeccably on and off the field. A team that blood world class juniors year upon year and play the game, in my opinion, the right way. It’s our pleasure to Welcome Paul Wellens, his team, staff, the directors, and fans to the stoop.

On the field Saints will test us in all areas. The attacking threat of Welsby, Dodd and Clark will be plain for all to see. Their punch and power on the edges through Sironen, Mata’utia, Hurrell and Percival is equally impressive. Defensively they will look to squeeze us with incredible line speed and stretch us with the ball, THEY WILL ATTACK FROM ANYWHERE!

Regarding us, barring the Hull KR match at home, we like to think we have improved massively in the last 6 weeks. The Salford game was a much closer game than the scoreline suggests. I was very proud of the players; they deserved better for their efforts. The no try decision for Stocky before half time was a huge swing. To neither get the decision of a try, or a penalty try for the high tackle, or simply a penalty for the Partington involvement was baffling. The forward pass for Salford’s second try is possibly the clearest forward pass not to be given, that I’ve ever seen. The outcome was equally disappointing and devastating to the influence on the result of the game. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the boys and left us with a mountain to climb.

This week we finally welcome back Manu. We all know what Manu will bring! He will need time to get up to speed but its amazing to have the big fella back. Ethan also returns following concussion protocols. Dean is very close to a return and is back in training. Campo has also made great progress running and is due to integrate into training next week. Unfortunately, Rob Butler and Sam Davis miss out with calf tweaks. Defensively we will have to be at our best today to contain Saints, but we are hoping to cause them a few problems of their own with our ball movement. We will need to take our opportunities this week though and execute clinically as chances will be hard to come by.

Enjoy the game, enjoy being back at the Stoop, and get behind the boys.

Mike