Personally what a dick head,but has vision,guts and class in abundance

He's kind of like Gareth Hock, but a little more talented and a little less mental.

He certainly looks the part

Good player, always was at Bradford as well. He needs to get out of Wigan before he falls in the Newton/Hock overly wound thug mentality and move to the NRL sharpish.

He's had no discipline issues whatsoever in his time at Wigan. All I've seen him do is show he won't be intimidated by reputations and blokes bigger then him such as Peacock and Ryan Bailey.

I've said previously about him, he doesn't seem the brightest lad away from the field but on it he's just a natural rugby league player with a cracking rugby brain and game awareness.

I'm just thankful from England's POV that a couple of back rowers are emerging because we need them to. I've been so impressed with Bateman and Joe Greenwood in pre season (Greenwood was exceptional against us at Langtree park) and in these first couple of games and Joel Tomkins looks very strong. Pre season has done him the world of good.

Are you suggesting natural RL players are thickos.



Joel Tomkins is strong I'll give you that, but never a centre, should stay in the second row.

Loving the anti Wigan bias, keep it up guys, you are the gift that keeps on giving... lol

Quarter to nine, Saturday evening and you think Bateman is a di@khead?
Let me guess, Bateman is your foremans surname and you are the only one he could get hold of to answer an alarm call at work.

Yep, he's shown up well against us, that's for sure. Whenever I've seen him play well he's always been very aggressive but never done anything with the type of calculated malice that would cause serious injury. The game would be poorer if no-one played it in that spirit.

Don't know about bias but, they are without doubt, the grubbiest team in the comp.

Not suggesting that at all but to read Bateman on twitter and when you hear him speak the lad is clearly not the brightest (which isn't a criticism as I'm not a straight A's man myself) but that doesn't translate itself on the pitch. He plays with a coolness and seems to just have a natural instinct for playing the game. I watch some players and can't believe how dumb they can be on the field but not this kid.

As for Joel, I fully agree. All I've been saying at the games these past two weeks is 'I can't wait to see him back at second row'. He looks so threatening with the ball and is clearly not the same player that came back. He'll be huge for us at second row I reckon.

He is a lightweight back rower with aspirations of being the hard man. Good player mind.