In focus: John Bateman

After signing a four-year deal to return to Wigan Warriors in 2021, we take a look at John Bateman’s career so far with ten facts…

• Born in 1993, Bateman started playing rugby league for amateur club Bradford Dudley Hill. 
• He went on to join his hometown club, Bradford Bulls, where he made 35 appearances and scored nine tries between 2011 and 2013. Incidentally, his first Super League try came against Wigan in 2011.

• In 2014, he joined Wigan and made his debut against Sydney Roosters in the World Club Challenge – his Heritage Number is 1056.
• In his five years at the Club, Bateman went on to make 132 appearances for the Warriors – scoring 35 tries. 

• Between 2014 and 2018, Bateman became a double Super League Grand Final (2016 and 2018) winner and was part of the historic 2017 World Club Challenge winning team that beat Cronulla Sharks. 
• The second row was named in the 2018 Super League Dream Team and was shortlisted for the 2018 Steve Prescott Man of Steel Award. At Wigan’s End of Season Dinner, Bateman was awarded the Players’ Player of the Year and Player of the Year.

• At the end of 2018, he joined NRL side Canberra Raiders and went on to play 23 games – winning 17 of those, scoring five tries and making 820 tackles overall.
• The forward inspired Canberra to the 2019 NRL Grand Final where he played at second row against Sydney Roosters. 

• At the end of 2019, Bateman was named the Dally M second row of the year and was shortlisted for the 2019 Golden Boot – the only British nominee for the award. 
• Internationally, the 26-year-old has represented England 16 times – including games at the 2017 World Cup. Bateman represented Great Britain for the first time in the 2019 Lions Tour of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea – playing in all four games and scoring one try. 

For the full details on Bateman’s return to Wigan, click here.