The future of England international John Bateman at Warrington Wolves beyond the current 2024 season has been clarified.
Reports down under have emerged stating that Bateman and his management team have confirmed to Wests Tigers that he will see out the remainder of his tw0-year deal.
His move to Warrington Wolves came as a major shock with the 30-year-old effectively granted a temporary release from his contract to play out the remainder of the season in Super League.
That’s because NRL clubs cannot loan players so Wests had to cut Bateman in order for him to complete the Super League move and it led to plenty of speculation that he wouldn’t return to Wests, particularly given reports of a fractious relationship with head coach Benji Marshall.
It now seems apparent that Bateman will see out the final two years of his contract at Wests with The Sydney Morning Herald reporting that.
John Bateman to leave Warrington Wolves
Credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
It was probably expected that Bateman wouldn’t be at Warrington Wolves next year but with the forward finding his form and the aforementioned fallout with Benji Marshall at Wests, Sam Burgess’ side will have likely held out hope that they could keep hold of Bateman for 2025.
That now seems out of the question with the second-rower and his management informing Wests of his intent to see out his deal worth a reported $600,000 per season.
There had been talk earlier in the year that Tigers’ CEO Shane Richardson had tried to ship Bateman when he was in England trying to offload talent to make salary cap space, however, that was never confirmed.
Wests have seen a portion of their cap problem taken care of with Aidan Sezer signing for Hull FC last night, a club that fellow half-back Jayden Sullivan had been linked with earlier in the season.
