John Bateman #268

I thought he would be overpaid and have minimal impact. For the first month I was sure I was wrong, and absolutely delighted. Now I'm worried I was right.

I am calling him hermit crab until he straightens up or finds an effective runner (good luck!)
 
He is running the ball half paced at best.
We can blame halves for not bringing him onto the ball and getting him decent service, but no excuse for him compensating for this and at least attempting to start a bit deeper and run onto the ball with a bit of purpose.
He’s only going to be older and slower next year,.
 
One of our best each week ?
What has he done to help us win a game ?
He’s an edge back rower, they are supposed to run the ball hard and at least threaten to make a line break.
When is the last time Bateman threatened to make a line break, even a half line break and offload ?
All he does is stand flat footed, jog instead of run the ball and all his offloads hit the deck.
 
BAGNF05 said:
Honestly this bloke has busted his gut all year. Anyone pot shotting him is ridiculous. Players like him leave the club because they’re sick of carrying everyone.
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Not doubting his ticker or effort. Love that he's a goer, but it's a long deal so the results have to be there or it's (another) bad decision.
 
Vicious said:
One of our best each week ?
What has he done to help us win a game ?
He’s an edge back rower, they are supposed to run the ball hard and at least threaten to make a line break.
When is the last time Bateman threatened to make a line break, even a half line break and offload ?
All he does is stand flat footed, jog instead of run the ball and all his offloads hit the deck.
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Bateman is the only one when he actually touches the ball I believe something might happen. Don’t think I can say the same for anyone else in the team right now.

He ran for 14 runs and 110 meters with 2 offloads 2 tackle breaks and also made 49 tackles with 0 missed.

He’s the last person to point the finger at - when Will Smith and Brandon Wakeham are your starting halves you’re never really ever gonna win a game of NRL football

Miracle we were 12-12 at HT if you want my honest opinion
 
Yeah weird to have a go at Bateman when he was in great form with Api in and when we were playing well for a stretch of 6 weeks or so.

Since we've lost that Canberra game (which Bateman also played very well in and completely changed the game for us when he moved from edge to lock), everyone's taken a huge step back.

He's had more good games than bad. I'm not worried about him as a signing at all yet. It's when the injury issues appear that I'll worry.
 
BAGNF05 said:
This is like the Brooks debate, a result is so much bigger than any one individual in a 17 man sport. You can’t hang results on someone when we have such a poor roster. We don’t have halves at the moment FFS.
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I mean in relation to his individual output, as opposed to team results. Not hanging results on him, and he is probably one of our smallest problems. I'm just so over it all man, if I see a bloke crabbing across field...yep, I'll probably be harsh on him and readily admit it says more about where I'm at as a supporter than him.
 
teddy23 said:
Bateman is the only one when he actually touches the ball I believe something might happen. Don’t think I can say the same for anyone else in the team right now.

He ran for 14 runs and 110 meters with 2 offloads 2 tackle breaks and also made 49 tackles with 0 missed.

He’s the last person to point the finger at - when Will Smith and Brandon Wakeham are your starting halves you’re never really ever gonna win a game of NRL football

Miracle we were 12-12 at HT if you want my honest opinion
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Yea,

Between Klemmer, Bateman and Paps there was a risk that one of these would not perform. Klemmer has been solid, above expectations. Bateman had a crap game vs cows but otherwise has been good and Paps has been very decent.

For a side that was likely going to loose vs a top 4 team we put in a good showing. as usual our defense was porus and they caught us on the wings. Well fire the Forward is about as bad as fire the halfback due to poor wing defense. :/
 
BAGNF05 said:
You don’t get a damaging hole runner when you sign John Bateman. You get 100% effort and someone who will fight like a dog with a bone. He’s not gonna win games on his own.
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You can find a dozen fringe NRL players or NSW Cup players who will give you 💯 effort and fight hard, these are not the type of players you pay big money for.
Jack Williams at the Sharks is twice the player Bateman is at this stage of their careers and he would be earning a third of Bateman’s wages.
 
BAGNF05 said:
Agree to disagree, you need 17 of them.
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The edge back rowers are a major part of a teams attack and if they don’t run hard to threaten to make line breaks, it makes it very easy for the opposing defence.
You could have your back row all making 50 tackles every week, but if they don’t all run hard and be a threat to the opposing defence, their team is no hole of making the top 8.
 
BAGNF05 said:
I’ve coached. You set up a game plan to play to your team’s strengths.hard when you don’t have any attacking weapons.
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This is the NRL we are talking about.
The opposing defence is generally hard to break down and the edge back rowers play a major part in a high percentage of tries scored, whether they are making line breaks or half breaks themselves or running hard lines as a decoy to create space outside of them.
I’ve seen Papali”i do a reasonable job in this regard, I’ve seen Shawn Blore make 3 line breaks in our past few games, I’ve seen duck eggs from Bateman as he refuses to get out of first gear.
It is not giving 💯 if you are one of your teams highest paid players and you refuse to run the ball with speed and purpose.
 
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BAGNF05 said:
We’re not having this discussion if our halves and outside backs are effective in their jobs. Look how many tries opposition wingers score FFS.
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The edge back rowers need to take some responsibility for the opposing centres and wingers scoring so many tries too, as if they jam in when we are short of numbers it leaves an obvious overlap.
I’ll put it to you this way, how many opposing teams would Bateman start in based on his form this season and last season when Wigan couldn’t wait ti get rid of him ?
He was a great player 2-3 years back, but everyone gets old and slow at some stage.
 
WesternSuburbsBoy said:
@Vicious I don’t know how you watch our games & think John Bateman is the issue… it’s really baffling to me not only that but you compared an elite forward to a bench plodder at the Sharks 🤣🤣
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I know who the Sharks would prefer.
I find it baffling so many of our fans accept bog average players wasting 700k of our cap space. Any wonder we can’t win a game.
 
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