I have been moaning that we are light in the pack for a while, so I am not going to complain when we import Bateman to patch up one of the holes. Yes he is close to the end of his career, and no he is unlikely to light up the field of play with sparkling breaks. But he has a vast amount of experience and know-how and he should certainly give us a much better chance in the play-off's. As has been said, he could also pass on a lot of tips and advice to our upcoming Academy players, so all in all it's a thumbs up for me.
That leaves the possibility of him continuing his stay into 2025 dependant on form, and perhaps Wests coughing up some cash to seal the deal. That would certainly put up a barrier to our Academy prospects coming through, but there again, we will always have injuries and I certainly don't think Burgess can go into 2025 with the equivalent level of pack experience that we have seen this year. Tough decision, unless of course Burgess really only wants him for the play-offs.

Tomato Tomatoe

There was no hope at all of Williams escaping criticism on this one. No comment or telling it as it was at the time ... he was going to get stick. 

I'm just happy we're keeping him to be honest, couldn't care less what people say, he's class and has been since we signed him.
A crap forward pack and weak inconsistant team have made his job much harder than it should be. We're not a one man team but people seem to think he should be working miricles and winning our games single handedly.
He's been completely up front about everything, glad he's staying, if we can keep Vaughan, with Byrne and a fitter  TPJ coming in we're much stronger next year.
I wonder if Dan Okoro will be in and around the team next year? Cas have ended his loan spell and he's being loaned out to London for the rest of the year apparently?

I'm just happy we're keeping him to be honest, couldn't care less what people say, he's class and has been since we signed him.
A crap forward pack and weak inconsistant team have made his job much harder than it should be. We're not a one man team but people seem to think he should be working miricles and winning our games single handedly.
He's been completely up front about everything, glad he's staying, if we can keep Vaughan, with Byrne and a fitter  TPJ coming in we're much stronger next year.
I wonder if Dan Okoro will be in and around the team next year? Cas have ended his loan spell and he's being loaned out to London for the rest of the year apparently?

Yes I am glad he is staying. We have probably been guilty of squandering his time with us since 2021 with the pack we have had.