Shaun Wane on John Bateman 'hunger'...and welcoming John Terry into the England RL fold!

That’s the verdict of ex-Warriors coach Shaun Wane, who expects the Test second row to become an even more central figure than he was in his first spell at the DW, after rejoining from Canberra Raiders.

“John Bateman is going to be a great addition,” said the England coach.

“And the competition is going to be stronger with John in, no question.

“Knowing John, he’ll be very, very upset he didn’t win a Grand Final over there.

“We won things over here, me and John, and he didn’t quite manage to do that over there in the NRL.

“That will have upset him, and he’ll be coming back very, very hungry to put that right.”

Wane was speaking during a virtual press conference yesterday, where he revealed ex-Chelsea and England football captain John Terry could be a secret weapon in his quest for World Cup glory at the end of the year.

Terry, now assistant manager at Aston Villa, has struck up a friendship with Wane after a chance meeting on Zoom – which could reap sporting rewards on both sides.

“I’m doing a sporting director course two days a month,” revealed Wane.

“I’m doing lots of Zoom calls with international footballers, and I’ve had a few chats with John Terry.

“I did a chat for UEFA coaching badge attendees and he was one of them.

“It was good, I spoke to him about our standards and things

“ I ask him regular questions, I learn from him, he learns from me.

“Every day is a school day, I go to bed and I’ve learned something.”

When asked whether Terry would be speaking to the England squad ahead of the World Cup, Wane added: Definitely, he’s going to come up to training.

“He’s really keen, he’s very smart, he loves our way of thinking in rugby league, and what we did at Wigan.

“He’s got a real understanding about rugby league and he loves the game.

“He’s also a very proud Englishman, and Lee Westwood is another one who’ll be getting involved with us.

“Lee is very individual in terms of the sport he plays, and John has obviously played for England.”

“I love speaking to people like that about how they train, what they do and what their standards are.

“I’m assuming our players will have a buzz for that. I want them to have an open mind about things like that.”

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