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John Bateman won’t play for the Wests Tigers again and will instead join the North Queensland Cowboys for the next two seasons.
The Englishman had 2025 and 2026 to run on his deal at Concord but media speculation had swirled about a rift between the forward and Wests coach Benji Marshall, despite the former playmaker denying there was any issue with his player.
Bateman reportedly took issue with Marshall’s man management of his young and inexperienced squad, treating the up-and-comers differently from the veterans on the Tigers roster.
The signing could be quite a boon for Todd Payten as Wests will contribute a “large” portion of Bateman’s salary.
“We lost well over 1000 games of first grade experience at the end of last season with guys like Val Holmes, Kyle Feldt, Chad Townsend and Jake Granville moving on,” Cowboys general manager of football, Michael Luck said.
“There are only two guys over 30 in our squad – Jason Taumalolo and Jordan McLean – and we have some tremendous young forwards we wanted to add experience around.
“The other thing we like about John is that he can play in the middle and edge back-row and we feel we played our best footy in the last couple of years when we had Tom Gilbert who could start on an edge and move to the middle or vice-versa.
“John can add starch in that position and save you an interchange in the game.”
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Bateman departed the Tigers midseason in 2024 on loan to the Sam Burgess-led Warrington Wolves in the English Super League, a move that raised eyebrows around the NRL, but both player and club expected him to return for pre-season training at the conclusion of his annual leave in January.
He will trade the Sydney weather for tropical Townsville, with the Cowboys keen for their new recruit to acclimate to the intense conditions as soon as possible, as they prepare for another premiership tilt after they were defeated by Cronulla at the semi-final stage in 2024.
with AAP
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