Lovell looks ahead to new season

Will Lovell is hoping London Broncos can ‘thrive’ under the tag of underdogs ahead of the new Championship season.

The Broncos skipper is looking forward to the year ahead as his side make the trip to Halifax for their opening game of the campaign on Friday.

And after a long pre-season having seen majority of the 2020 season cancelled, Lovell is hoping for a successful season.

'We like being the underdog'

“Personally and as a team we want to get into the play-off zone,” the 27-year old said in an exclusive interview with VAVEL.

“We like to take things week by week, we already know that we’ve probably been written off but we thrive on that.

“We like being the underdog and proving people wrong. Our aim is to get back into the Super League and we will take things week by week.”

Broncos go into the new Championship season with two games in the Challenge Cup under their belts – albeit the second of those ended in defeat against York City Knights last weekend.

Having beaten Keighley Cougars 24-10 in the first round a fortnight ago, Broncos came unstuck against fellow-Championship opposition last Sunday with the Knights winning 14-2 at Rosslyn Park.

But despite that, Lovell is confident that this new-look London side can push for Championship honours.

'Plenty of positives'

“It has been a different sort of pre-season this year with Covid restrictions and stuff like that,” Lovell explained.

“It’s been an enjoyable one, with some new players coming in and really gelling with the team straight away, we have managed to get on the field and do quite a lot.

“We haven’t really had a Covid outbreak in the camp, so we’ve been able to do quite a lot as a team.

“There have been plenty of positives to take from the cup games. We didn’t play to our potential against Keighley and the performance last week was pleasing.

“We just missed our opportunities and to come away with a loss frustrating.

“We’ve had a lot of players make their debuts and proven that if they jump in they can do a job and do it really well.

“All these guys stepping up from the academy have already showed what they are capable of and that’s exciting. Looking at our squad, it’s a young group we have.

“We now look ahead to round one, and we need to go to Halifax and put them to the sword.”

Broncos saw their season brought to a abrupt halt last year just five games into the campaign due to the pandemic, and Lovell admits that both his side and himself can’t wait to play weekly rugby again.