After eighteen months in the NRL’s volatile player market, around $2.5 million in contracts and endless innuendo, December 24 delivered Tim Sheens the Christmas gift he’d been waiting for.
English international John Bateman completed a Wests Tigers forward pack he no longer wants to tinker with.
Sheens described Bateman’s four-year deal, secured with a reported $250,000 transfer fee from Wigan and announced late on Boxing Day, as “the main domino I wanted to fall.”
At 29, Bateman brings more than 200 Super League and NRL games worth of experience as well as 25 Tests for England and Great Britain.
Between he and fellow signings David Klemmer, Api Koroisau and Isaiah Papali’i, the Tigers have added more than 800 games of NRL, Origin and Test experience to a forward contingent badly exposed by injury en route to a 2022 wooden spoon.
The recruitment drive started under Michael Maguire and delivered Koroisau and Papali’i last summer on $600,000-plus per annum.
The latter wavered and looked to stay at Parramatta before Klemmer and Bateman were secured through unconventional negotiations. The Tigers now turn to their backline and playmakers to build upon a vastly improved pack.
“We’ve got some quality forwards now and guys you can genuinely play behind, with grunt and go forward,” Sheens said of his revamped forwards.
“We’ve got one more position to fill in our top 30 and we’ve got a couple of ideas with that.
“John was the main domino I wanted to fall. Now we’ve got him in our forwards we’re looking at the backline and who could be added there.
“The experience of these guys we’ve signed like Klem and John, that’s the real attraction.
“That experience and quality makes a difference given we had issues with depth and injuries to key forwards this year.”
The Tigers’ recruited quartet will be called on to mentor a raft of rising young forwards led by Stefano Utoikamanu and Shawn Blore as they return from lengthy injury lay-offs, with Joe Ofahengaue, Alex Twal and Fonua Pole other regular NRL options.
Half-turned-lock Jackson Hastings and veteran skipper James Tamou have led a Tigers exodus that has also included back-rowers Luke Garner, Kelma Tuilagi, Zane Musgrove, Jacob Liddle and Tyrone Peachey.
John Bateman’s stint at Canberra combined quality and controversy alike.Credit:Getty
Sheens added that Bateman is an option at lock as well as in an edge partnership with Kiwi international Papali’i.
The veteran coach holds no concern over the four-year deal that will see Bateman turn 33 by its completion in 2026, pointing to Dale Finucane’s impact at Cronulla this year after signing on the same terms at the same age.
While mindful of an ever-shifting market, bringing Nathan Brown back from Parramatta takes a back seat given the Tigers options up front.
Sheens would not be drawn on interest in former Tiger and Eels lynchpin Mitchell Moses after meeting with him in the UK, and said attention eventually turns to who calls the shots long-term behind his new forwards when training resumes on January 5.
Halves Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi are both off-contract and have never had a Tigers pack of this quality in front of them.
“Brooksy’s been in rehab with a bit of a calf injury and Adam returns next week as planned,” Sheens said.
“I have spoken to the players and they know that the plan is to have those [contract] conversations in the New Year.
“How far into the New Year, we’ll wait and see, but right now the focus is on this team we’re building now for 2023 because we have to get some results right here, right now.”
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