The Yellow Giraffe wrote:
Not getting carried away mate but Knowles has always gone under the radar slightly with opposition fans but he is absolutely huge for us. He's the best 13 in the league by some distance. I know he isn't a like for like comparison with Bateman but given the choice of the two right now I wouldn't hesitate. For what it's worth Bateman would of course walk into our side at 2nd row. But I wouldn't sacrifice Knowles for him.
I am not doubting how good Bateman is. On his day he is a world class player. Don't doubt that for a second. Bateman's best is better than Knowles at his best. The trouble is Bateman hasn't been at his best once this season. Now for a player with such a big reputation and massive hype around him (and presumably a rather large wage) that isn't good enough. If he bounces back next season that's great but be honest, if he has another season like this, surely you'll all be massively disappointed and thinking why are we wasting a huge chunk of our cap on this?
Think back to the Cunningham days and was anybody at their best for Saints under him? We’re coming off the back of our Cunningham era. Even not at his best Bateman has still churned out decent numbers (by his standards and very good ones by good players standards) but he does need to improve and he will improve. This isn’t a Wigan bias point on Bateman. He’s a lad from Yorkshire anyway but I think as British Rugby League fans we can all be proud of how he went down under. As I said, to beat guys like Kikau, Cordner and Sam Burgess to that award in 2019 is unbelievably special and as things stand (even off the back of a reasonably iffy season) he’s a clear number one as the best British back rower in the game.
As for Knowles I rate him highly. He plays a huge part for Saints, I really do get that. I called him Saints Micky Mac the other day. Saints fans probably see that as a criticism because a lot didn’t see the qualities in Micky Mac we did, the things you just don’t have stats for but in my mind it’s actually huge praise for Knowles. Even given all that there’s no way he’s a better player than Bateman IMO because Bateman brings both sides. He can knock out 150+ metres and 40 plus tackles on a regular basis but like Knowles he brings those qualities you don’t measure in stats. A leader, aggression, intensity and an ability to inspire those around him. Those qualities may not have shone through this season as much but the whole side is lost and it’s not for the want of trying. To me saying Knowles (currently) is a player you wouldn’t swap for John Bateman would be like me going back and saying I wouldn’t have swapped Micky Mac for James Graham. Different positions just like Knowles and Bateman, both bring the attributes you don’t measure in stats but one knocked out loads of metres and tackles and the other realistically just passed the ball from dummy half.
