I always thought it was a bit of a myth Bateman being undersized, remember being at Orrell for the family fun day a few years back and I’d say outside of Greenwood he probably looked one of the biggest bloke there, he’s tall and broad shouldered, think his frame maybe made him look smaller than he was on tele as he’s not got bulging muscles. From all accounts he’s freakishly strong too (seems that way on the pitch) which if is the case there is no need to try and add more muscle, Chan himself runs in really hard and fast which will offset some of the lack of size, I just think he could be more suited to playing second row.

He's 6 foot and just over 15 stone according to Wiki so smaller than Chan and not big, even for a second row. He is, by all accounts, really strong which is borne out by how he is on the field, as you say. I agree Chan looks more suited to the back row and could use his undoubted strong running to better effect there imo. More than happy to see how he goes at prop though if that's his favoured position but he does need to sort his discipline. I love his enthusiasm but it has a tendency at this stage to overspill into avoidable penalties.

I’m 6-1 and he was taller than me and I would say he weighs more than 15 stone.

There's a wall chart at Robin Park that puts him around the 6 foot mark so I'm sure it's about right.

Is this a real 6'1 or a Tinder 6'1?

Hahaha. To be honest my height was 186cm on my MOD 90 when I was in the military which is 6-2 but my posture is awful so I always say 6-1, I was also holding my young lad in the photo so maybe I was hunched even more. He looks a similar height to Lockers though who I always thought was 6-3ish. Bateman though is a second rower who played on the edge and centre a lot, Chan is saying he’s prop so even more undersized for his position. I like the lad though, as many have said he seems to have a great attitude and he doesn’t half run it in hard, he could maybe get to contact a meter or two longer than the average prop to to his pace.

Josh Schuster situation is interesting from our point of view.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Had Isa not picked up his injury wouldn’t think about it, and hopefully it isn’t the case he is out for the season.

If he is though I believe there is the option to deregister him.

This would open up cap and quota space.

It appears there is no interest in the NRL and he is about to become a free agent with $200k pay off.

Like I said hopefully Isa gets back playing but if he doesn’t he could be an option on a short term deal for the rest of 2024.

I see a lot of similarities around his situation and when Lautiti became available and similar freakish skill set if he can get his head right.

Is confirmed Jon that Isa is out for the rest of the season?
I hope that he isn’t but if he is then Schuster would be a very interesting option if he wants to come to SL.
Isa will be sorely missed as his defensive qualities and his all round fitness levels are perhaps only second to Liam Farrell.

No nothing confirmed and obviously the ideal world solution is that Isa returns before the end of the season I’m just thinking out loud.

As a pure guess I would imagine he would want a decent wage, do we have that space under the cap?even if we can write Isas wage off?

He’s walking away with $200k pay off and no interest from other NRL clubs.

Wages are usually dictated by demand so I don’t think realistically he can expect a big wage for the 2024 season.

Josh Schuster doesn’t have the qualities of a Wigan player in terms of toughness and attitude IMO.

Whilst I don’t necessarily disagree they are the 2 areas of concern he’s an absolute gun of a player when he’s on.

Almost a no risk signing for the rest of this season if the worst news comes through and Isa is gone for the year.

I hasten to add this is all pure speculation and thinking out loud on my part nothing in it with any substance at all regards Isa’s injury or us making a move for a replacement.

Sam Eseh two weeks loan to Cas

Good move. Keep him there as long as we can, he needs SL minutes.

i'd posted on warriors fans that its a good move as we have no reserve game for 2 weeks either, so he'd be sat waiting to get some game time. Ideally i'd give him 4 weeks get some good game time and then see how he's going and if he's ready to challenge for a 1st team spot when fit and firing. Given Cas are down on numbers, i dont see any reason why he shouldnt get some good 1st team minutes

Jackson Hastings in yet another behind the scenes bust up - this time with Will Pryce. Hastings has always come across as a very calculating self-publicist but the public persona doesn't seem to match up with what goes on when a camera isn't present. Pryce comes across as quite a brash individual as well so maybe a recipe for disaster (as it turned out with Bateman).

Just reiterates how lucky we are to have the personalities we have at Wigan - all seem very humble and level-headed.

Dreadful bloke, seems to have a lot of fans fooled like you say with his public persona.

He should just go back to the Salford where they’ll worship him.

Personally, I found Hastings' so-called love affair with Salford one of the least convincing aspects of the entire JH show while he was over here in the UK. At times, it verged on being a total pantomime.

For me, he's a professional contrarian, who seems to delight in winding people up. Whatever vicarious pleasure this gives him, it nearly always seems to have an impact on the rest of the team. The only reason this didn't happen at Salford was because he was their biggest fish in quite a while and basically allowed to rule the roost. I've no doubt that given enough time, he'd have fallen out with people there as well.

So JH has clashed with a young back who’s already having a hard time in a team that’s not doing well? Hmmm.

Still early but pretty much worked out as anticipated with Pryce in the NRL. I'm sure most Wigan fans suspected KPP was ready to go over there and make an almost immediate impact but Pryce had big holes in his game whilst playing in SL despite the raw talent/pace/agility etc. His defensive game and decision-making would need to radically improve for him to crack it there and although you can't argue with the preference for a warmer climate I'm not sure going this early was the best thing rugby wise.

Moving over when you're practically fresh out of the academy didn't work for Harry Rushton or Bailey Hodgson and doesn't look like its working for Lewis Murphy or Will Pryce. Dom Young is the exception but he really is a freakish athlete.

I agree with your points about Pryce, but my comment was about how Jackson Hastings gets on with team mates, particularly those he could be choosing to mentor.

All I know with Hastings is we're well rid. I'm not sure I can recall a player who has left Wigan being that unpopular, right from the fans, through to the players and coaches from what you hear. Even one of the other problem children we had at the time in Hardaker seems loved by the players, even if the fans aren't keen. Loads of his old Wigan teammates made a bee line for him at the end of the recent Leigh game and he seems to be genuinely a popular guy.

ZH is the very definition of the phrase "as thick as two short planks". 99% of his troubles have all been self inflicted.

That however doesn't mean he isn't a likeable guy to those that know him the most. Let's face it, we all probably know someone like him. Either at work, or a friend from way back or someone you played rugby with. A nice enough guy who can be funny in the right circumstances, but is just really really dense.

Sam Eseh has another hamstring problem. He's pulled up in the captains run for Cas and is out of their game this weekend and maybe next weekend. He needs further checks to see the extent of it. Lingard mentioned it cramping up, so fingers crossed it's nothing major.