The Brisbane Broncos have agreed to an affiliate partnership with the Sunshine Coast Falcons for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.<\/p>\n
The partnership is in addition to the Club\u2019s existing agreements with the Burleigh Bears, Wynnum-Manly Seagulls and Souths Logan Magpies.<\/p>\n
The structure of the partnerships means NRL squad members won\u2019t play for the Falcons, nor will the Sunshine Coast Club send players to the Broncos on train and trial deals during the pre-season.<\/p>\n
Rather, the model has been more aligned with the Broncos\u2019 game development strategy and talent identification, via academy systems through the Club\u2019s affiliates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Broncos General Manager of Recruitment and Pathways, Simon Scanlan, said the Club was committed to supporting all levels of rugby league.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sunshine Coast is not only a fantastic region but also one of the fastest-growing areas in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough this new Falcons affiliation, alongside our existing partnerships, we are dedicated to helping the game from grassroots right through to the professional ranks.<\/p>\n
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We understand the responsibility we have in shaping the future of rugby league, and we\u2019re proud to play our part to support it at all levels.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tSimon Scanlan
\n\t\tRecruitment and Pathways Manager
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The Broncos have had a strong connection with the Sunshine Coast for more than 20-years, particularly through the Club\u2019s\u00a0grassroots and junior development programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2003, the Broncos established and sponsored a local high school rugby league competition, which has since evolved into the\u00a0Justin Hodges 9\u2019s\u00a0and supports over\u00a01,000 young players.<\/p>\n
Since 2006, the Broncos\u2019 Academy Program has operated a development squad in the region and numerous players \u2013 like Kawana Dolphins junior, Tyson Smoothy \u2013 have progressed to the Club.<\/p>\n
The Broncos also commenced a partnership with the Falcons in the women\u2019s rugby league space last year, which is a key affiliate to our NRLW side.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Club, we have been impressed by the Falcons\u2019 leadership under Chris Flannery and Ashley Robinson,\u201d Scanlan said.<\/p>\n
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We\u2019re excited to expand this affiliation to benefit both clubs and the broader rugby league community.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tSimon Scanlan
\n\t\tRecruitment and Pathways Manager
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\u201cWe are confident this partnership will help strengthen the Falcons\u2019 operation not only through their pathway and community programs, but also by working closely with their staff to provide support at every level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new partnership with the Falcons means the Broncos now have affiliates throughout the South East Queensland corner, from Burleigh through to Noosa.<\/p>\n
The Queensland Rugby League (QRL) is reviewing the prospect of allowing NRL-teams to have their own reserve grade side from 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This approach and the timing of the new partnership will allow the Club to be prepared for sustained performance and success should the QRL decide to go down this path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brisbane Broncos have agreed to an affiliate partnership with the Sunshine Coast Falcons for the 2026 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-157754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}