Wigan Warriors confirm “significant” fee was received for John Bateman

John Bateman will not be a Wigan Warriors player in 2023 as has been rumoured for some time.

This comes as Bateman makes a return to the NRL with Wests Tigers ahead of the new season.

The second-row left Wigan at the end of 2018 to join fellow Englishmen like Josh Hodgson and Elliot Whitehead at the Canberra Raiders.

Bateman picked up the Dally M Second-Row of the year award in 2019 as the competition’s best backrow as Canberra made the Grand Final.

However, he returned to Wigan at the end of 2020. But two years on from this, he returns to the NRL with the Tigers.

This all started back in summer when Wests began to pursue the backrow but were deterred by the transfer sum Wigan asked for with Bateman still under contract.

However, spearheaded by former Hull KR boss Tim Sheens, the Tigers reignited their interest and were happy to pay the fee.

Wigan have now confirmed that “a significant transfer fee” was paid for Bateman as they stated they have acted in the best interests of the club:

“As always in these situations, we have acted with the best interests of the club at heart and we will continue to act in that manner. The club received a significant transfer fee for John. We thank John for his service over his two stints and we wish him well.”

It is reported that this fee was around $250,000 which is around £140,000.