John Bateman has revealed he came terrifyingly close to losing his leg after a spider bite during a Cowboys training session earlier this year.
The English second-rower was bitten on the left leg in the lead-up to North Queensland’s Round 6 clash against South Sydney, and was told in hospital that doctors were focused on saving his limb, not getting him back on the pitch.
Bateman, who had joined the Cowboys at the start of the season after two years at Wests Tigers, initially thought little of the bite. But by the next morning, his condition had worsened dramatically.
“I think it (the spider) was on the field, and it bit me on my leg. I wasn’t too sure what it was. I’ve never had to worry about that before,” he told NRL.com.
“I had a rough sleep on Wednesday night, and I literally got rushed to hospital on Thursday morning. It was pretty bad. I was just hot and cold, and my leg from above my knee to beneath my ankle went all red, so I was pretty worried.”
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‘We’re just looking to save your leg’
Still determined to play, Bateman told medical staff to get him ready for the weekend fixture. But the response was sobering.
“Then on the Friday morning he came back in, because they had taken bloods, and he said, ‘mate, there is no chance of you playing, we’re just looking to save your leg’.”
Bateman made a full recovery and returned to action two weeks later. Reflecting on the scare, he joked: “I got away in one piece, but it was a real ‘welcome to Australia’, put it that way.”
The 30-year-old has featured in eight games this season and is set to return for the Cowboys this week against the Dragons.