Bateman off to the Super League—but he’ll be back at Tigers next year

Wests Tigers have allowed John Bateman to leave to play in the Super League for the rest of the 2024 season, with the Englishman now set to join Sam Burgress’ Warrington as they battle for a title.

Bateman and the Tigers sat down to talk about the loan deal earlier this week and the Tigers, who’ll now save up to $100,000 this season, were happy to thrash out a plan.

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While the 30-year-old is free to see out his 2024 play with Warrington, he’ll be expected to front up at Wests preseason ready for the 2025 campaign under Benji Marshall. He’s currently earning around $670,000 a season and The Sporting Base understands the Tigers were happy to save as much as possible on this finals-less year.

The 30-year-old is signed with the Tigers through to the end of 2027.

There was some speculation around the NRL world that Bateman wanted to return to England more permanently—a move that would have been very, very reminiscent of him leaving the Raiders in 2020 due to being “homesick.”

Tigers powerbrokers managed to convince him that his long-term future is still in the NRL though, and he agreed to return to the orange and black outfit after six months in the U.K. with an interested team.

This move will, of course, mean Bateman was not named in the Tigers’ 24-man squad on Tuesday. He has already left the Concord club and is expected to be on the plane to England as soon as Thursday or Friday. Wests will be playing the Warriors in New Zealand this round as Marshall’s men look to avoid a wooden spoon.

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Warrington is currently sitting in second place in the Super League behind Wigan with a 13-5 record. George Williams, Matt Dufty, Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Paul Vaughan are already at Warrington.