Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart calls on NRL to fix player manager mess after John Bateman quits

Stuart's comments come as NRL second-rower of the year John Bateman told the Green Machine on Tuesday that 2020 would be his final season with the club.

The England international is weighing up offers from the Canterbury Bulldogs and his former Super League club Wigan after the Raiders gave him permission to test his value on the market.

Bateman had signed with the Raiders until the end of 2021, with Canberra paying Wigan a transfer fee believed to be in excess of $350,000.

But the trouble started when Bateman left his English manager Andy Clark and joined Moses.

Moses is set to appeal the NRL's decision to cancel his registration as a player manager for allegedly "procuring and assisting" one of his other clients to mislead the integrity unit.

He didn't return The Canberra Times' calls.

Stuart said he would have no problem working with Bateman, who is hoping to come back from shoulder surgery before the end of the season.

"The NRL needs to help clubs in regards to how we have to deal with certain managers over the way they agitate clubs and manipulate negotiations to suit them and them only," he said.

"It's not always in the best interest of the player. It disappoints me because it's so hard to build a strong roster.

"The last thing we're going to be is a club such as the Broncos or the Warriors where they've been ruined by agitation and the manipulation of [their] roster."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Stuart revealed the Raiders had offered Bateman an upgraded deal last year around the time he was switching to Moses.

While he was disappointed to lose a player like the England international, he was pleased Raiders chief executive Don Furner had set a deadline on the decision.

"I'm proud of the club that they put a timeline on it. We're sick of waiting. We knew what was going to happen and to Don's credit he put a time frame on his manager and got what we knew was coming," Stuart said.

"It's really disappointing. John's a really big part of the squad and he's a world-class player so to lose him really disappoints me because you work so hard to build a strong roster then you're getting players that are pulled out of it the way John has has really disappointed me.

"We offered John a very, very good offer last year ... and the words of 'You're getting closer' I thought was disrespectful to Don and the club. And that day there I knew we wouldn't be keeping John."

On a positive, it frees up some salary cap space for the Green Machine for next year.

Raiders chief executive Don Furner said they would look to bolster their senior squad potentially this season.

They could have lost Corey Horsburgh (foot) for the rest of the season and now have some room to move.

"We've got time this year until August 2, the deadline is not June 30 anymore so we've got an extra month to sign [players]," Furner said.

"We'll look at this year and beyond. We could [bring someone in this year]. We've also got an injury to Corey Horsburgh so we'll be keeping our eyes open."

NRL ROUND EIGHT

Friday: Canberra Raiders v St George Illawarra Dragons at Canberra Stadium, 6pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Michael Oldfield, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson (c), 10. Sia Soliola, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Joe Tapine. Interchange: 14. Curtis Scott, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Ryan Sutton, 17. Siliva Havili. Reserves: 18. Tom Starling, 19. Dunamis Lui, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Kai O'Donnell.

Dragons squad: 1. Matthew Dufty, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Euan Aitken, 4. Zac Lomax, 5. Mikaele Ravalawa, 6. Corey Norman, 7. Adam Clune, 8. Blake Lawrie, 9. Cameron McInnes, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Tyrell Fuimaono, 13. Trent Merrin. Interchange: 14. Ben Hunt, 15. Josh Kerr, 16. Korbin Sims, 17. Jackson Ford. Reserves: 18. Eddie Blacker, 19. Tristan Sailor, 20. Billy Brittain, 21. Tim Lafai.