England international John Bateman spent four days in hospital this month after being bitten by a spider. The North Queensland Cowboys back-rower took to social media this week to reveal the news with a series of pictures from hospital while receiving treatment for the bite.
It seems the bite came while Bateman was on a 10-day trip with the Cowboys, with NRL away games being played at CommBank Stadium in Sydney and Optus Stadium in Perth. The Cowboys won both games, significantly bolstering their position in the league ladder before this weekend’s bye.
The first was a 22-18 win over champions Penrith Panthers with Murray Taulagi scoring a brace to help the Queenslanders over the line. The second result came over South Sydney Rabbitohs in Western Australia, where the NRL is looking at expanding to in the next few years.
Bateman didn’t play in the latter game, though, missing out despite being named in the side earlier in the week by Todd Payten. It seems the spider bite could have been the reason for that, ruining what would have been a perfect trip. Bateman didn’t go into more detail than that on the Instagram post, but the hope is that he has made a full recovery.
He wrote: “10 days away with the lads. 4 points taken. 4 days in hospital for a spider bite.
“Thanks for coming.”
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The game in Perth was the first Bateman has missed since joining the Cowboys from Wests Tigers over the off-season. The forward couldn’t prevent the club from losing their first three games of the season, but they’ve certainly managed to turn things around with three straight wins and the England international will hope to be back in the fray once he’s back on his feet.
Bateman knows that if he can find form and impress this season, he will stand a good chance of being involved for England against the Australians in the autumn.
