Captain Craig Gower insists the time for excuses is over for his new-look London Broncos.

The 34-year-old has returned to rugby league with the Broncos, where he was one of 11 new faces drafted in during the off-season, after a spell playing rugby union for French club Bayonne.

Expectations for the Super League team were high with Gower linking up with fellow former NRL recruits Michael Robertson and Shane Rodney – both joining from the Manly Sea Eagles.

But the Broncos have hardly hit the ground running – they have only two wins from their first 12 league games of the season. They now face Bradford, who are still battling administration, on Sunday.

Last weekend’s 22-16 win over semi-professional Championship side Batley in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup was the first away victory for the Broncos, formerly Harlequins, since May last year.

And Gower, who captained the Penrith Panthers to victory in the 2003 NRL grand final, insists that sort of form has to change, starting this weekend.

“We have to be harder on ourselves,” Gower said.

“We are 12 rounds into the Super League now so we can’t be coming up with excuses anymore.

“The fact that we have brought in a whole load of new faces is nothing more than an excuse now. Hopefully, the team are starting to come together.

“The results have not gone our way so far this season and that has started to affect our confidence, especially away from home.

“But the result against Batley could hopefully be a turning point, the conditions were atrocious but we defended well enough and finally put a stop to our run without an away win.

“Bradford will be a tough test for us this weekend, there are no easy games in this league and we are slowly realising that we have to play the full 80 minutes or we will be punished.”