HE'S reached cult status in record time, but John Bateman's instant impact in the NRL with the Canberra Raiders couldn't be less surprising to his 'Bradford Brother' Elliott Whitehead.
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The tough-as-teak Poms were childhood friends and played a few seasons together at Bradford, but are now part of an all-English Raiders back row alongside Ryan Sutton which has been integral to their strong start to the year.
"I knew what he was capable of, and I knew he'd come here and do that," Whitehead said.
"He's a tough kid, he wants to win and he's really brought those qualities to us.
"People may be surprised, but for me it's no shock.
Bateman will need all his toughness and competitiveness against Penrith man mountain Viliame Kikau at Equex Centre on Saturday, the second NRL game in the city and the first in 21 years.
Kikau almost singlehandedly pulled the Panthers out of their form slump in last week's 22-18 loss to Souths, leaving a trail of Rabbits wreckage in scoring a late try.
Despite giving away 23kg and 10cm to Kikau, Bateman has shown toughness to compliment his skill and Whitehead expects no different on the weekend.
"He's someone we have to watch out for, but I'm sure John will do a good job on him on the weekend," Whitehead said.
"He's a big bloke and we need to get up into his face and stop his momentum."
The Raiders are fourth with a 5-2 record, but are looking to bounce back from an away loss to an understrength Manly.
Canberra lost the penalty count 13-5 and Manly took advantage of a tiring Raiders with their offloading.
"It's easily fixed. They'll have a look at that (offloading) and try and throw a bit of that at us," Whitehead said.
"We were ill disciplined against Manly and it caught up with us through fatigue. We'll have to learn from that and cut a few penalties out."
In his fourth year in the NRL, Whitehead is looking forward to taking a game to a new city and exploring another part of his adopted country.
"All the boys are excited to get out there and put on a good game," Whitehead said.
"They don't get the opportunity to watch a lot of these games. It's definitely good to get out there in the community, it keeps the young kids involved and hopefully makes them want to play as well."
Tickets to the game can be purchased at the visitor information centre or the Oasis aquatic centre.
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