Rea's first job is to find new Broncos captain

One of the first tasks for Tony Rea, London Broncos' new coach, will be to appoint a club captain following the end-of-season departure of Karle Hammond to Widnes.

New Zealand's World Cup skipper Richie Barnett must be odds-on for the job following his arrival at Charlton.

After yesterday's first day of training for the new rugby league season Rea was happy with the way things went.

He said: "They looked great together out there and you could see in the younger players' eyes that they relished rubbing shoulders with such experienced guys like Richie, Jason Hetherington and Jimmy Dymock."

Of the new squad only Acton-born Dom Peters was missing. He will be out for six weeks at least while he recovers from a shoulder operation.