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medlocke wrote:

fozzieskem wrote:This could, in theory become a lose, lose for Wigan,

1,no fee for him which does seem likely and he goes,

2,Wigan finally decide this is the one player that has to be reimbursed for and Batemans not happy, professional yes, but not happy and as we all know not happy generally becomes a situation where the player ends up leaving sooner rather than later.

If its got to the point where he wants to go, as seems the case, let him go safe in the knowledge when or if it goes belly up they have first refusal on him.

No, sod the Aussies, they need to learn they just can't come and cherry pick our best players without paying for the pleasure, sick to death of them thinking they can wiggle their fingers and all will come running, if it upsets Bateman then tough, If he doesn't like it and starts playing up then punish him with a loan spell to Rochdale, no player is bigger than the club, Also once he goes he never comes back, no modern day player is worth it

The issue is that in the past the NRL raids were only for the top guns of Superleague - your Adrain Morley, Gareth Ellis or James Graham. Yeah a few slipped through the net (Ritchie Mathers and Scott Moore) but in general they went for the proven quality.

Their Salary cap raise coupled with our salary cap stagnation has meant they can actually offer "small" contracts to up and coming players and its a better deal than a good to top superleague contract which makes it harder to fend off.

We are constantly in a situation were to match or increase an NRL deal the player needs to go to the top 3 earners in the club which then handcuffs you.

This is why Superleague is dying, we were slightly behind the curve at one point only losing the tip of the iceberg every now and then. Now we are losing promising players that if they work the NRL keep and if they dont we have them back either as proven rejects or in someone like budgies case until theyve can earn another pop.

We are the feeder league now for the NRL

“Feeder club for the NRL”

Hard to disagree

His contract said he could go for a fee, which he signed. If this all falls through and he sulks, remind him how the club has had to put up with his crap Mossop etc.
The club cannot be seen to give in over this since they put in a stipulation for this happening. So they either pay up or wait for his contract to end.

Bateman for all his skill isn't a leader and all the talk about him being the natural successor to Lockers isn't happening.

Josie's friend wrote:His contract said he could go for a fee, which he signed. If this all falls through and he sulks, remind him how the club has had to put up with his crap Mossop etc.
The club cannot be seen to give in over this since they put in a stipulation for this happening. So they either pay up or wait for his contract to end.

Bateman for all his skill isn't a leader and all the talk about him being the natural successor to Lockers isn't happening.

Exactly

Bateman is a good player but has dropped off some way from the outstanding player that he was a couple of seasons back.

His leaving would be a loss but not a disaster, PROVIDED we use the money to buy a game breaker and not rely on the "project" players.

I have mentioned this before, but I assume we have a date by which Bateman's option must be exercised (as we did with Sam's), so we know where we stand for next year.

Wintergreen wrote:Bateman is a good player but has dropped off some way from the outstanding player that he was a couple of seasons back.

His leaving would be a loss but not a disaster, PROVIDED we use the money to buy a game breaker and not rely on the "project" players.

Couldn't agree more. Would be another waste of a marquee signing in my opinion. We need to focus on getting a replacement for Lockers, ideally playing with him next year to replace him the next. Can't think of anyone who fits the bill though :dont:

you cant replace oloughlin the same as you cant replace cameron smith or thurston these type of players are unique in my opinion. I personally would try keep hold of Bateman and play him at 13

Must be a few ball playing forwards we can have a look at. Would love bateman to stay but not as a marquee. What's that Sam Burgess up to?

making a fortune in Aus !!!!