I admit i am puzzled towards the signing as well he is a great prospect can only imagine a few of the youngsters are being tapped up to go over to aus and hansen is going to get a payday at salford in 2015. going to have a lot of depth next season but not sure all the players can be kept happy.

Looking on the Bradford Site it seems like Wane is going to have to keep him on a tight leash.

reading his twitter he does need to do some growing up and mentoring.

Wane has demonstrated in the past that he won't tolerate anyone messing him around. This move may be the making of Batemen. Any idea of the fee?

I didn't realise that Bateman had been at Wigan on a scholarship as a youngster.

He certainly didn't with Hock, Chris Ashton and Sean and Martin Gleeson.

The only one vocal about them as I remember was lenegan

he wasn't the head coach of the senior team back then... and i have no idea of the fee surely someone will? how much was it warrington bid for him?

It's not a 6-figure fee.

I'd guess around £70-80k

I can't recall any game in which Bateman really stood out as a unusually gifted talent.

I just dont see him making any impact for them, hes simply not good enough!

m.o.m. v Australian academy at Leigh (Captained England)
m.o.m. v Saints at Bradford.

The kid is an outstanding talent, whether he can go all the way only time will tell.

he's not shown up well in SL so far, i can't speak for the others above, but since he 'broke through' into the first team, i've not seen any performances to make me go wow.

And i'm not just saying this as it's a wigan signing, when we were linked with him since their money issues i said at the time, i was somewhat puzzled at where his talents lay as he was less than impressive.

PErhaps FC has been misusing him in the first team, but i've not seen any spark or small glimmers.

Fully agree with this post, he is definitely not an 'outstanding talent'

The reality probably falls between yours, Cat and Rogues's posts?

From the very limited viewing that I have had I wouldn't swap him for Currie, but, think that 'our lad' has had the benefit of developing amongst a winning team, a pack at the top of their game and of course under the watchful eye of TS.

Bateman's progress since bursting on to the scene on the other hand has probably been burdened by the opposite. He's a decent player with bags of potential IMO and the change might just do him good