Tigers’ English enforcer to miss Titans game
WESTS Tigers fans will most likely have to wait another week to see John Bateman in action, with the Englishman at long odds to make his club debut against the Titans this weekend.
Bateman only arrived in Sydney last Friday after complications kept him in the UK for longer than the club would have liked, and it’s unlikely he’ll be picked for Sunday’s game at Leichhardt Oval in a big blow to last year’s wooden spooners.
The 29-year-old got through some light duties at the Zurich Centre on Monday morning but did enough to impress his new teammates, even
if some of the messaging got lost in translation.
“I can’t really understand him,” Isaiah Papali’I said as he prepares to shift to the left edge in his first game for the club. “He got up in front of the team and had a chat, but I had to really focus to hear what he is trying to say to us. He seems like a funny bloke and I’m looking forward to playing with him.”
Bateman dominated the NRL in his short stay with the Raiders in 2019 and 2020 before he returned to Wigan earlier than expected, and Papali’i is expecting big things from him in his second stint down under.
“He’s an unorthodox type of player and I really liked watching him when he was previously in the NRL with the Raiders,” he said.
“I’m excited to have him in our team because I remember trying to tackle him back in the day, but he was really hard to wrestle to the ground. He’s really light on his feet so you can’t really plant your feet otherwise he’ll get past you.”
While Bateman will likely be eased back ahead of a probable return against Newcastle in round 2, another new recruit is ready to make his Tigers debut, with many tipping Api Koroisau as the great hope who can make them a force again.
The representative rake brings money-can’t-buy experience from his time with the Panthers, and his new teammates are so inspired by what he’s done in a couple of months that they had no hesitation in voting him in as the side’s skipper.