Quote: Last Son of Wigan "Right ok...
Firstly I wouldn't classify my comments as a theory, they're an opinion. And of course, which is open for debate. Don't forget the context of my comments; which are that Bateman is worthy of the marquee (I think people aren't realistic about the marquee) and I do, in my opinion feel Bateman is better 'age for age' than Lockers.
You wanted facts? Don't forget Bateman was England academy captain in 2012 taking them onto a tour of Oz, in the same year he won the Albert Goldthorpe rookie of the year award. He's someone, in the same team as Lockers at this point named clubs player of the year 2 years running in 2015/16.
In the same space of time John has won a WCC, a SL title.
(By the way this kills me to compare anyone to Lockers who is my fav player at wigan)
In comparison by 24 Lockers has won... yes you've named it
I think people forget how much Lockers improved in his late 20s.'"
Isn't that the point though? There are reasons why O'Loughlin was underrated when he was in his early 20s, and they were often more about spurious comments about leadership or the fact that the team generally wasn't up to much?
Having said that, I agree that Bateman is incredibly hard if not possible to replace like for like, and we should be doing as much as we can to keep him. I just think that SOL is a once in a generation player who was unlucky not to be appreciated in his early years. Come to think of it, I think the way he's seen now isn't that different to Paul Scholes at man United. He's always been quality, but it was only towards his twighlight years when he was really appreciated.