It’s more than ten years ago since Sadiq Adebiyi made his debut for London Broncos, so he knows, more than most, just what their current adventure means.
Yes, admittedly, the powerful forward spent a short sojourn away from the capital club, with a couple of seasons in West Yorkshire at Wakefield Trinity and then Keighley Cougars.
But the Nigeria international’s first rugby league love was London and he’s now desperate to return the Championship frontrunners to success.
“It will be massive to play in this game,” said Adebiyi, ahead of facing Widnes Vikings in Monday’s 1895 Cup final.
“I came through the academy here. I went up north to Wakefield [in 2022] but I came back down and one of the reasons was to play Super League with this club.
“I did that two years ago. I’m now trying to get us back up there - especially this season where we’ve got loads of quality personnel - and on to bigger and better things.
“But, firstly, I’m looking forward to representing London on the big stage on Monday.
“Hopefully, it’ll be a really good atmosphere – it's a Bank Holiday – and, along with Widnes, we can show how good the Championship is.”
London were relegated from Super League in 2014 having won just three games all season and finished tenth in the second-tier last term.
But they have been revived this year following the financial input of a new ownership group led by Aussie duo Grant Wechsel and Darren Lockyer, assembling a star-studded side including former Kangaroos prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard.
Adebiyi, 29, admitted: “It has been really good.
“I’ve been here quite a while now and seen the club having two staff in the background to now where there’s so many.
“Since their [owners'] investment, and not just money-wise but into the whole of London’s rugby league scene, they’ve been open about where they see this going.
“And us as players are behind it. It’s shown in our performances.
“There’s been so many eyes on us, and it is exciting.
“We want to get to Super League, but we want to win the Championship and, since day one, we sat down and said we want to win every competition.
“The 1895 Cup is included in that and it’s a stepping stone towards us achieving our goal.
“But we know Widnes will be tough; we won’t take them lightly.”
London almost came unstuck against Allan Coleman’s side earlier this month before holding on to secure a 20th straight Championship win.
Adebiyi, who was born in Lagos, recalled: “We always knew Widnes away would be one of our toughest tests and it proved the case.
“They came at us from the start and we weren’t great.
“It was one of those games where it was a bit close - but it does create more appetite now for the 1895 Cup final.
“We took a lot out of it. JD (London coach Jason Demetriou) said it was our toughest game in five or six weeks.
“It was. We dipped off a little bit. And know we have got to be there for the full 80 to beat them. Oldham proved that against us.”
Oldham inflicted London’s first loss of the season only a fortnight ago as a timely reminder nothing is certain in the sport.
Adebiyi concluded: “I am looking forward to this game.
“It’s the first Cup final I've been in. It's disappointing it’s not at Wembley but it’s a first chance for us to get some silverware.
“We’ll take as many Londoners north as we can, get loads of noise going - and hopefully we take the trophy back home.”
The 1895 Cup Final will take place on Monday 31 August at the Halliwell Jones Stadium (K.O. 3pm).
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