Joe Batchelor (born 28 October 1994) is an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a forward for St Helens in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at international level. He has played for the

Coventry Bears The Midlands Hurricanes are a semi-professional rugby league club jointly based in Birmingham and Coventry, West Midlands, England. They were founded as the Coventry Bears in 1998 and entered the third tier of the British rugby league system, ...

and the

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

in League 1. Batchelor has spent time on loan from

Saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

and the

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern ...

in the

Betfred Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...

Background

Born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population ...

West Yorkshire, England West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...

, Batchelor played junior

with

Dewsbury Celtic Dewsbury Celtic is a rugby league club in the town of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. They play in the NCL Division Two after gaining promotion from Division Three in the Autumn of 2019. They followed this promotion with a tour of Australia, faci ...

. He is the brother of James Batchelor who plays for

Hull KR Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challenge ...

in the

Playing career

Early career

Batchelor started his career as an academy player at

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their former ground. The original club w ...

. In 2015, he spent a year in Australia, where he played for

Bathurst St Patrick's Bathurst St Patrick's, more commonly referred to as St Pat's, are an Australian rugby league football team based in the Central West city of Bathurst. St Pat's have played in the Country Rugby League-controlled Group 10 Rugby League since the ...

in the

Group 10 Rugby League Group 10 is a rugby league competition in the Central West area of New South Wales, under the auspices of the New South Wales Rugby League. It had been under the control of Country Rugby League but that changed after the NSWRL agreed to a new cons ...

competition. He returned to the Eagles in 2016, but the club's reserve team was discontinued shortly afterwards. After contacting

coach Tom Tsang, he agreed to join the club, and made his professional debut in May 2016 against Doncaster.

York City Knights

In December 2016,

announced that they had signed Batchelor. He debuted for the club in a

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

match against

Egremont Rangers Egremont Rangers is an amateur rugby league club in Egremont, Cumbria, which plays at Gillfoot Park and competes in the National Conference League Division 1. Former players • Garry Purdham • Rob Purdham Challenge Cup history Egremont ...

, scoring a try in a 48–8 win. He scored 15 tries in 21 appearances in his first season at the club, and was named as the ''

York Press ''The Press'' is a local, daily, paid for, newspaper, for North and East Yorkshire. It is published in the City of York by Newsquest Media Group Ltd, a subsidiary of Gannett Company Inc. The ''Yorkshire Evening Press'' was established in 188 ...

'' Player of the Year for 2017. Despite attracting interest from other clubs, he agreed to sign a new contract with York for the following season. In the 2018 season, he was the club's top try scorer with 23 tries in 27 games, helping the club win promotion to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

St Helens

In May 2018, Batchelor agreed to join

side St Helens, signing a three-year contract with the club ahead of the 2019 season. During his first season at the club, he returned to York City Knights on loan. The initial one-month loan was extended for the whole season, but Saints exercised the option to recall him. He made his Super League debut for St Helens against

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

in April 2019. Later in the season, he also played for

on a dual registration deal. Batchelor's first team opportunities at St Helens were limited, and he made only eight appearances during his first two seasons at the club. His breakthrough came in the 2021 season, becoming a regular starter in the second-row for the club following the departures of

Zeb Taia Zeb Taia (born 11 October 1984) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a forward for both New Zealand and the Cook Islands at international level. He played for the Parramatta Eels, Newcastle Knights and the Gold Coast ...

and

Dom Peyroux Dominique Peyroux (born 21 January 1989) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a forward or for Toulouse Olympique in the Betfred Championship. He has played for the Cook Islands and Samoa at international level. He previou ...

. On 17 July 2021, he played for St Helens in their 26–12 win against

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed ...

in the

2021 Challenge Cup Final The 2021 Challenge Cup Final was the 120th final of rugby league's Challenge Cup knock-out competition. It took place on 17 July 2021 at Wembley Stadium between Castleford Tigers and St Helens. Background The 2021 Challenge Cup Final was th ...

. In August 2021, Batchelor extended his contract with Saints until the end of the 2023 season. On 9 October 2021, he played for St Helens in their 12–10 victory over

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ou ...

in the

2021 Super League Grand Final The 2021 Super League Grand Final was the 24th official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXVI. The game was contested between Catalans Dragons and St Helens at Old Trafford. Background The two finalists finished first ...

. On 24 September 2022, Batchelor played for St Helens in their 2022 Super League Grand Final victory over

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Head ...

, and was rewarded with a further contract extension until 2025. He played 15 games for St Helens in the 2023 Super League season as the club finished third on the table.

England

Batchelor was one of five St Helens players selected by

in the squad for the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £ ...

References

External links

St Helens profileSaints Heritage Society profileSL profileEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batchelor, Joe 1994 births Living people Coventry Bears players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Leigh Leopards players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Wakefield St Helens R.F.C. players York City Knights players