John Bateman: St Helens tried to sign me while I was at Wigan

Drew Darbyshire 26 Mar 2020 12:15 PM

John Bateman has revealed St Helens tried to sign him when he was at their rivals Wigan.

The 26-year-old has revealed that Nathan Brown tried to sign him three times when he was in charge of Huddersfield, St Helens and most recently Newcastle Knights.

But Bateman rejected Huddersfield to sign for hometown club Bradford, he turned down St Helens while at Wigan and then opted to join Canberra Raiders rather than the Knights.

He told The Locker Room podcast: “Nathan Brown tried to sign me when I was coming through as a kid. He was at Huddersfield at the time and me and my mum went to have a look around but I eventually chose to sign for Bradford.

“I remember him being at St Helens and his assistant was Sean Long at the time and I remember getting a phone call off Sean Long at the time and he was like ‘what do you think of the opportunity (of playing for Saints)?’ and I was at Wigan at the time.

“If you are from England, you know the big rivalry between Wigan and St Helens. I thought I can’t be the player who makes that decision so I didn’t go through with it.

“The opportunity then came up about going to Canberra and Newcastle were involved but once I started talking to Canberra, it made my decision pretty easy to be fair.”