John Bateman needs to ‘think about what he’s doing’ as Wests Tigers CEO makes 2025 admission

Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson has left the door ajar for John Bateman to return to the club in 2025: but insists he needs to use his time in England with Warrington to ‘think about what he’s doing’ in a revealing interview.

Richardson, speaking on the club’s Behind The Roar podcast, launched a staunch defence of head coach Benji Marshall following reports he and Bateman had a fallout which led to the England international’s return to Super League with the Wire for the rest of the season.

“I don’t think at all that he treats young players differently,” Richardson said. “He treats them differently in the sense they’re young players but it’s up to our senior players to step up and do the job. I know that Benji has challenged our senior players about performances. I applaud him for it. I’ve met a lot of coaches who talk tough and did nothing.”

But more interestingly, Richardson insisted that any talk of a fallout with Marshall was not the reason Bateman left – and there is a route for him to resurrect his Wests career and complete the remaining two years of his contract.

However, Richardson insists Bateman needs to use his time in England to be certain ‘he wants to make a commitment’ for 2025 and 2026 and if that is the case, there is every chance he will be a Wests player once again next year.

Richardson said: “That’s not why John Bateman has gone. We had a call from Sam Burgess, doing the right thing direct and it was in our interest to let John go for varying reasons. But it’s just another part of our war chest going forward. John can go over there, think about what he’s doing and make sure he wants to make a commitment.

“He’s another two years of his contract, and anyone who’s here has to want to be in the crocodile roll. We want people to fight to the fricking death.

“I’m not saying John doesn’t want to do that, I’m saying he’s got to make calls about what he wants to do about his future. But he’s certainly got a future with us if he wants to get into that crocodile roll.”

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