28-year-old England and St Helens second-rower Joe Batchelor has reportedly been attracting the attention of NRL clubs.
Batchelor featured at the World Cup making his international debut and was also a 2022 Super League winner against Leeds.
Over his career, Batchelor has played for the Coventry Bears, the York City Knights and the Leigh Centurions.
Before the beginning of his professional playing career Batchelor played in Australia for Bathurst St Patrick's.
Over his 130-game club career so far, Batchelor has scored 60 tries with the majority of tries being scored while at York City. He won 2017 York Player of the Season, with his best scoring season being 2018 notching 23 tries in 27 games.
Reports from the Wide World of Sports have indicated he has recently appointed an Australian agent who is keen in discussing an NRL move from 2024 onwards.
He is currently on a deal at St Helens until 2025, but contracts mean little in this day and age, and Australian clubs have been known to pay transfer fees to English clubs for players they deem as NRL-level.
The 28-year-old, who plays in the second row and has been a key part of St Helens' last four premiership titles, has played under Kristian Woolf for the last three campaigns, with the St Helens boss moving back to Australia in 2023 to join Wayne Bennett as an assistant coach at the Dolphins.
It's unclear at this stage which NRL clubs may be interested in Batchelor, however, a number of forwards have made their mark on the Australian competition out of England, including the likes of James Graham, Sam Burgess, Elliott Whitehead and John Bateman, who is set to return down under for his second stint in the competition during 2023 after signing a four-year deal with the Wests Tigers.
