John Bateman #268

bptiger 0 said:
I think he will play there but he will be moved around between lock , second row and centre , that’s way I would love a class lock
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I reckon May would be a better option at lock than Bird. I would have Bird in the centres with Olam. We would still have a prop rotation of Hunt, Klemmer, Pole, Sione Fainu and Twal. To me the biggest issue is second row.
 
bptiger 0 said:
I think our front row is good and has dept , hooker is very good .
Lock is a major problem , no one stands out at all .
Samual is our really only backrower with class , seyfarth is a good on his day but over all is not a starting player , porter played a few good games but again not a starting player .
None of the kids even looked like they belonged in 1st grade
I hope that answers ur question, just my take on our pack , others will have there thoughts , cheers
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Yep.
Bird doesn't fill me with confidence at lock. His injury history is a concern but I'm more concerned that he has never had an extended run in the lock position in decade long career. Wouldn't say he can't do it but we've certainly never seen it. The fact he is the clear best option speaks to what the other options have produced thus far.

No right backrower. Again I think Seyfarth can do a job but Fainu/Seyfarth at this point would be one of the weakest backrow combos on paper. Only untested rookies as alternatives/depth.

I think May is a good signing but realistically he's played less than a year and half of quality football. We've seen better players than him come here and fail.

I also like Klemmer given he provides good solid work rate but question if he can still provide the punch that he once did.

Pole and Hunt both good front rowers with the ball in hand. Pole's defence was terrible last year. Hunt's would at least be good before he gases but hes gassed quick his whole career to date. I'd guess that why he has struggled to maintain a first grade position most his career.

Beyond that I don't rate Twal and the rest are inexperienced players I don't know enough about to get excited.

I'm hopeful, optimistic even, that we've turned a corner as far as performance goes. I'm not yet confident we have.

With regards to Bateman, I'm sort of on the fence. I agree that paying someone 300k a year to play elsewhere is hardly a 'win' for us. Though I agree that his relationship with Benji seemed untenable and he probably did need to be moved on. I'm also not so quick to assume the breakdown of that relationship was all his fault and that he was in any way toxic amongst the playing group.
 
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bptiger 0 said:
I just can’t get this paying $300 plus to get rid of him and no one looks like coming in , we are undermanned in the backrow as it is , so we are down $300 plus and down a tackler with no replacement mentioned other than a bunch of raw kids who would not tackle in NSW cup this year , we have a great looking back line. But again we don’t have a pack to beat 3/4 s of the other teams , we just never get a balance good forwards NO backs , good backs NO forwards , can’t see us getting into the top 8 next year with our pack
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He had to go... Toxic as... No good here kicking stones.
Better off with a kid with a dream than a sulky whiny bitching pom
 
Bateman's a good player. Overpaid by us and probably good value on reduced contract to cowboys. I don't think we have a better option on our books, but ultimately clearing players from our poor performing squad is good. He never got through a decent offseason with us. Surprised that cowboys want him with their forwards, does he make them better?
 
Tim Sheens said:
A handful of people with actual knowledge at two clubs, the NRL, Bateman, his dastardly manager and almost certainly no journalist or individual that posts on here.
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I agree.

I would probably add Brent Read to that small list of those that are actually in the know and I doubt he will say too much unless he gets the nod from Richo to do so.
 
He's gonna wish he signed with a Sydney team once he steps off that plane in January and begins to melt in 95% humidity.

I would have preferred to see him stay but the relationships within the dressing room appears to be untenable with JB.

Good for moving forwards and hopefully upwards.
 
Vicious said:
He didn’t want to run the ball at speed, instead choosing the soft option of jinking and running sideways at half pace and he didn’t want tackle hard, instead choosing the soft option of arm grabbing.
This being the case he was no value to us and had to go.
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I can still picture the opposition ball carrier brushes past him easily as Bateman drops his head in defeat... Saw it often... As were the sideways hit ups ala A. Fifita
 
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