JOHN Bateman showed more of his true colours in his latest Warrington Wolves outing, says Martin Gleeson.

The former Wigan Warriors back-rower, signed until the end of the season on loan from NRL club Wests Tigers, made his second start in primrose and blue in Saturday’s Magic Weekend victory over Leeds Rhinos at Elland Road.

“He’s settled in brilliantly - he knew a few of the lads already – and I thought we saw more of what he’s about in the Leeds game,” said first-team coach Gleeson.

“It was a wet weather game, it was a tough game, and we saw his character come to the centre – his character in defence, his character diving on loose balls, his character in a lot of carries out of tough spots.

“And then we got a little bit of what ‘Batty’ does at the end where he didn’t go down in the tackle, he got his arms free and put Matt Dufty in some space to score.

“I think what he’s going to bring to us as a team might not be seen as flashy stuff but he’ll bring a hard edge to our team, a toughness to our team ¬¬– on top of what we’ve already got – with his experience at the top level.

“He’s a great addition from those sides of it alone.”

With Bateman’s arrival, along with the recent capture of Luke Yates from Huddersfield Giants, The Wire look blessed in the pack department at the moment.

“We’re a pretty healthy squad at the minute. The pack is getting really difficult to pick,” said Gleeson.

So much so that England international Joe Philbin, who has recently returned from long-term injury, and young gun Adam Holroyd – who Gleeson described as being ‘an absolute warrior’ this season – could not get into the 17 against Leeds.

Also Zak Wood and Tom Whitehead are waiting in the wings for another crack and back-row star Lachlan Fitzgibbon is nearing a return, while Lucas Green is biding his time and gaining match experience at Widnes Vikings.

Not to mention another young prop, summer signing Dan Okoro, has been allowed to rejoin his former club Bradford Bulls on loan to gain valuable game time while awaiting his Wire debut chance.

The competition for places with the rise of young talent is proving to be a really healthy position for Sam Burgess’ squad.

“We’ve used a lot more players than people probably think this year,” said Gleeson.

“A lot of younger lads have had some serious game time which just makes everything even stronger for us because we know we can trust them doing a good job for us, and it also makes our training more competitive for us.

“The quality of our sessions and what you can do in training then goes up because then the competition comes, so we’re in a good spot as far as that’s concerned.”