{"id":300268,"date":"2025-11-21T23:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T23:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/300268\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T23:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T23:43:09","slug":"pair-of-perth-targets-sign-with-london-broncos-for-2026-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/300268\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair of Perth targets sign with London Broncos for 2026 &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/super-league\/british-teams\/london-broncos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">London Broncos<\/a> have bolstered their forward pack with the signings of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/players\/marly-bitungane\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Emarly Bitungane<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/luke-smith\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luke Smith<\/a>, two promising young forwards fresh from their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> debuts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Bitungane, who recently made his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> debut with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/north-queensland-cowboys\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">North Queensland Cowboys<\/a>, joins the Broncos ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-217085\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Cowboys utility back finds new home for 2025\" width=\"840\" height=\"560\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bitungane-_1.11.23-134.jpg.webp.webp\"\/>Emarly Bitungane. (Photo: Cowboys Media)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The powerhouse forward is known for his strength, versatility, and relentless work ethic, traits the Broncos believe will help him thrive in the UK competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">&#8220;Fresh off his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> debut with the Cowboys, Emarly is now ready to make his mark in the UK,&#8221; the club said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Joining him is back-rower <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/luke-smith\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luke Smith<\/a>, who arrives from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/canterbury-bankstown-bulldogs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs<\/a> after progressing through their highly regarded development system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Smith debuted in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> in 2025 and has been tipped as a rising star due to his size, athleticism, and defensive energy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">&#8220;Luke brings serious muscle to the forward pack and is ready for the next level in the capital,&#8221; the Broncos said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The pair have both been linked to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/perth-bears\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Perth Bears<\/a> move in 2027, with the Broncos providing a perfect stopgap in 2026 for them to shine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Both signings continue London&#8217;s strong recruitment drive, with the club targeting young, hungry players from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> looking to make a name for themselves in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/super-league\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Super League<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The London Broncos have bolstered their forward pack with the signings of Emarly Bitungane and Luke Smith, two&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-300268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300268","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=300268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}