Wigan_forever1985 wrote:I think John will go do a couple of years and come back injured - probably to us, I hope I’m wrong but I think batemans put a huge amount of stress on his body from a very early age and his style isn’t that of someone who can play into their 30’s imo he is a brave player and he runs far above his weight
Like I say I hope I’m wrong and he has a long and decorated career but I feel at some stage his body will start to break down
I agree 100%. John has the talent for the NRL I don't think anybody would disagree. However he lacks the physical size to compete in the NRL. He does play"far above his weight " even in SL I think at best he'll last a season before he returns as you say " injured"
I hope he does well and wish him all the best
"
I think it showed in the World Cup that Wayne Bennett didn't think Bateman was big enough to play in the second row. He's strong for his size and has the aggression but by playing him at centre, he showed he rated him, but just not enough.
The problem is an Aussie side could take a chance on him and still pay him more than we could.
Hopefully if it doesn't work out our policy of taking anyone back will be put into action again.
And Wane has his replacement already in another favourite Wells.
Wigan_forever1985 wrote:I think John will go do a couple of years and come back injured - probably to us, I hope I’m wrong but I think batemans put a huge amount of stress on his body from a very early age and his style isn’t that of someone who can play into their 30’s imo he is a brave player and he runs far above his weight
Like I say I hope I’m wrong and he has a long and decorated career but I feel at some stage his body will start to break down
Wigan_forever1985 wrote:I think John will go do a couple of years and come back injured - probably to us, I hope I’m wrong but I think batemans put a huge amount of stress on his body from a very early age and his style isn’t that of someone who can play into their 30’s imo he is a brave player and he runs far above his weight
Like I say I hope I’m wrong and he has a long and decorated career but I feel at some stage his body will start to break down
Spot on! Bateman is simply too small to cope week in week out in the NRL. He will not finish any contract he gets. Having said that I can see the attraction of quadrupling or more his salary for one or two years.
Remember the last forward we sent to Oz with a dodger shoulder?
Regarder une fille en bikini, c'est comme avoir un revolver chargé sur sa table:
Il n'y a rien de mal a ça mais il est difficile de penser à autre chose.
First Try Tickle wrote:I think it showed in the World Cup that Wayne Bennett didn't think Bateman was big enough to play in the second row. He's strong for his size and has the aggression but by playing him at centre, he showed he rated him, but just not enough.
The problem is an Aussie side could take a chance on him and still pay him more than we could.
Hopefully if it doesn't work out our policy of taking anyone back will be put into action again.
And Wane has his replacement already in another favourite Wells.
I think it was more down to the fact that we had poor defensive quality at centre, rather than john not being big enough for the back row.
WB clearly preferred the defensive mind set that most NRL coaches seem to get right first before developing further.
However, I do agree on the size of the lad in the NRL. He would need to add a few KGs to play week in week out all season
Every thing about him is wrong for the NRL to small for a forward too slow for a centre, I honestly feel they will batter him to bits and send him home a broken man, wealthy but broken.
ddtftf wrote:Every thing about him is wrong for the NRL to small for a forward too slow for a centre, I honestly feel they will batter him to bits and send him home a broken man, wealthy but broken.
And signing for Warrington unless we are still stupid enough to buy former players, hopefully we will have stopped all that by then
Barney841 wrote:I know we’ve said about resigning former players isn’t the best thing for the club(me included) but I’d have Bateman back if he decided to come back in a couple of years.
I know he wasn’t the best last season, think he might of been carrying an injury, but the other two seasons before that he was exceptional one the of the best players
With the wages on offer in the NRL the only reason he will be back in two years (if he goes) is because he will have failed, the same as all the rest of them! So I would not touch him with a barge pole if that were the case.
If we stopped making it so bloody easy to go and "suck it and see" in the NRL maybe our players would think a bit harder about going in the first place. We offer an easy way out and while the money on offer is obviously very tempting in a short career this policy does, IMO, make it more likely players will give it a shot. As others have said Bateman's size may count against him but with Wigan so keen to give players a way back he has nothing to lose has he!
