Jamie Foster column: It was a tough night on Thursday and I am still suffering from illness but hopefully the boys can go to Wigan and pull off a shock.

They are always very physical encounters at the DW Stadium and you probably hurt more after a game there than anywhere else.

But I’ll tell you what, if you can pick those points up then that pain soon goes away.

We look set to come up against John Bateman for the first time since he left the Bulls.

A lot of the other lads used to have a bit of banter with John about where he was brought up in Bradford.

They would say he’s been almost dragged up but in a rugby league environment. Being tough pays off and it has done for John.

To play in his position at this level and at his age is phenomenal – and he’s only going to get better.

The big clubs attract the big names and John was obviously a very sought-after player. He used to speak to me about the attention he got from several clubs.

He was hot property and I’m sure he will be for a number of years – and rightly so.

Obviously it was very sad to see him go, along with the likes of Elliott Whitehead, but the club was poorly run back then and that was the situation at the time.

Those kind of things happened and I would like to think they wouldn’t happen now.

I speak to John quite regularly, mainly on social media, and it seems like he’s really enjoying himself at Wigan and playing good rugby.

As good as John is, he still went to Wigan with big pressure on his shoulders, but he’s taken to it just like I knew he would.

I think Shaun Wane and John Bateman go hand in hand – they are both aggressive, no-nonsense rugby men.

You can just imagine their team talks before a game and getting everyone psyched up – it would be like a boxing fight.

But hopefully we can put in a performance of our own on Monday.