That's how I see it as well. However, I don't think we could complain if we ended up with Pratt, Thornley, Hall and Scott next year. We'd have plenty of depth and it would allow us to manage Thornley's game time.

Yep

John Bateman being offered to SL clubs. Wests maybe willing to pay a percentage.

I know his Wigan stint wasn’t great but he would be a quality addition in a position we badly need some quality.

Got a good 3 years in him.

Wonder if we will be interested.

I could only imagine if we were to get Bateman and recent rumours of Hastings. That would be more than I expected.

I’ll get my head out of the clouds but he’s worth a look imo.

Bateman would be a great fit. Massive improvement to the area of the pack that is likely to need replacing next year.

If we are spending the cap too then why can’t we have a squad as good as Wigan/saints/catalans etc?

That has to be the aim so I’d imagine there is scope for some quality to come in.

Well Wigan develop a lot of their own for one thing so have access to those players.
After that it's about sourcing good players for the right price and convincing them to come to Wakefield.

You can spend the same as Wigan by getting players like Kevin Proctor but you won't beat them.

Bateman had better be willing to take a pay cut. He earns about £300,000 a year. God knows how much Hastings is going to want.

They say Wests will pay some of his wage so might be an option.

No thank you to Bateman.

Bateman falls into the category of good player but not a person I like...

I agree, but I'm not asking him round for tea.

It depends on how Powell sees him as a person. Like Gale said in his podcast, we've recruited good people as well as players. Can Bateman fit in that. Not sure really.

Am I missing something with Bateman?

Second stint at Wigan wasn’t all that but he’d definitely be one of the better SR’s in the league even at 31. A seasoned SL player averaging way over 20 games a year.

Place he’s from isn’t the nicest but I haven’t seen anything terrible in the media like you have with Hardaker over the years. Does he have that sort of history?

I remember him having quite a few fights with different teammates over the years, both here and down under. Wigan fans will know better than me but it's a theme that used to get talked about on their forum regularly, as well as when it's made the RL news.

Didn’t he have a fight with Lee Mossop after Haydock races, plus the police were called to a gym incident but can’t remember if it was the same evening

It’s good to finally have the finances to dream about the players we want to sign but we must be cautious and not follow the Salford strategy created by the owner of trying to buy for the sake of it. I am sure the current back room staff and ME will not fall into the same trap because how many times have I read on here that you cannot buy success.