Dean Hawkins has credited London Broncos' togetherness after producing a dazzling display to help secure 1895 Cup glory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Broncos half-back was named the worthy Ray French Award winner following an influential performance that included a try and four goals as London overcame Widnes Vikings to continue a remarkable season.
Playing in front of a bumper crowd in this year’s 1895 Cup Final, Hawkins admitted the atmosphere added to what was already a special day for the club:
“The crowd today was awesome. I think there was 5,000 here, so that was an awesome experience, and we definitely heard the London fans out there on Monday. It was good."
After the first hour in which Widnes applied plenty of pressure, London were forced to dig deep before eventually taking control of the contest.
Despite some frustrations during the game, Hawkins said there was never any sense of panic among the Broncos players.
Instead, the squad remained focused on returning to the simple fundamentals that have underpinned their success throughout 2026.
“We were calm because I knew it would turn eventually. We just had to start completing sets, getting back to our front footy, as we call it, and putting them into a corner.
“Once we started doing that, we started to win back momentum.
“I think the last 20 minutes we just ran away with it. We made it hard for ourselves, as JD [Jason Demetriou] said, but we got the job done.”
That composure proved decisive as London finished the stronger of the two sides to lift the trophy and add another achievement to an already memorable campaign.
The Broncos arrived in Warrington full of confidence from securing the Betfred Championship’s League Leaders' Shield the previous weekend, although Hawkins believes recent success has not altered the standards within the group.
And with attention already beginning to turn towards the Play-Offs and the near future, he insists the squad remains hungry for more:
“We're a positive group. We come in, we compete, we have a high standard of training and that doesn’t change.
“We got the League Leaders’ Shield last week, we got the cup this week, and we're going for the big one in a few weeks' time.”
For several members of the Broncos side, the final represented the biggest match of their careers to date. Hawkins felt the players embraced the challenge, rising to the occasion when it mattered most:
“That was a big game today, a big crowd, a big occasion, and the boys rose up to it, and that was really cool to be a part of.”
A key factor behind London's success this season has been the bond developed within a squad that was assembled quickly in the off-season.
Drawn together from different clubs and backgrounds, the players have built a strong connection during their time in the capital, and Hawkins believes that unity was on show throughout the final:
“As a London group down south, we'd just been put together.
“In our group, we were put together in November - boys from everywhere and we've come together and become so close because we just spent so much time together and we're the only team down south.
“We talk about backing each other and having each other's backs out there. And I think that showed out in the field with the amount of pressure we put on ourselves and we just kept turning up for each other and we got the win."
