Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Mon May 24, 2021 7:26 pm  

He's the second top second rower in superleague stats in the following, carries, metres made and tackle busts. He's top for tackles made.
Unsurprisingly the top second rower is that player too small for international rugby league Liam Farrell.

I think the expectations from some fans is just a bit too high, and yes he had a poor game by his own standards on Saturday, but he still got through a ton of work, same applied to Sam Powell, four silly penalties, all for ball strips.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Mon May 24, 2021 7:37 pm  

The perception that Bateman has been poor is a combination of a number of factors.

1). The expectation of fans is incredibly high. If he doesn’t perform like a superstar every week some will criticise.

2). He no doubt feels pressure to perform like a superstar leading him to try and force things a bit.

IMO he’s still the too class second row he always was and should be one of the first names on the team sheet.