London Broncos have announced the signing of forward Emarly Bitungane ahead of the new Championship season.
Bitungane joins the club for 2026 but according to reports in Australia, he is expected to make the move to Perth Bears for 2027.
The prop becomes just the latest player from down under to make a move to the Broncos, following in the footsteps of Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Siliva Havili and Dean Hawkins, who have joined from the NRL.
London, who will be led by Papua New Guinea head coach Jason Demetriou, have also landed a number of Kumuls players. Morea Morea, Epel Kapinias, Robert Mathias, Finley Glare and Gairo Voro have all joined the club ahead of the new season, with Jeremiah Simbiken and Nene Macdonald also expected to join.
As such, Bitungane, who was born in Tanzania before making the move over to Australia as a youngster, is joining a side that has ambitions of winning silverware in 2026 and earning themselves a spot in Super League.
The forward made his NRL debut last season for North Queensland Cowboys. He made two appearances under the stewardship of Todd Payten last season but he could not do enough to earn a new deal with the Cowboys and was released at the end of the year.
A journey built on hard work and belief 💪🏽🐴
Forward Emarly Bitungane joins the Broncos for 2026, adding power, versatility and determination to the forward pack.
Fresh off his NRL debut with the North Queensland Cowboys, Emarly is now ready to make his mark in the UK.… pic.twitter.com/InrlmrY0eK
— London Broncos (@LondonBroncosRL) November 21, 2025
Bitungane has plenty of Queensland Cup experience, though, making 16 outings for Northern Pride last season and scoring six tries along the way. He spent time at Townsville Blackhawks before he joined the Pride.
As mentioned above, the expectation is that he use London Broncos to keep busy and hone his game before making the switch to NRL side Perth Bears, who will step into the competition at the start of next season.
He is highly rated down under and the Bears look set to make him one of their first signings. The same can be said for Luke Smith who was released by Canterbury Bulldogs earlier this year, with reports suggesting he could be on his way to London, too.
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