Agreed, as we discussed at Half time last night, Thornley is letting himself down at the moment, his final ball is poor and he doesn't use his size to his advantage nowhere near enough. He doesn't get in the best 17 at the moment. Shame really as he started the season so well.

agree. i was fuming when he refused to pass at the end of the first half. i actually think that he could be a decent winger. he's big, good in the air, fast enough and has reasonable defence for a wing (not good enough for centre, but thats a different question). he's certainly a more natural winger than gelling.
a spell at wing might get his confidence levels back, and allow him to get minutes under his belt. he could always try centre again later, but i would not be overly disappointed if he had a run on the flank, if was decided that Manfredi and Burgress arent quite ready.

gelling was solid and offers good go forward, however hampshire showed both centres up for their poor hands/creativity. Neither gelling or thornley have the innate handling ability that a genuine centre has (goulding certainly has). They are both fantastic physical specimens, but is that enough now ? Gelling in particular has an excellent work ethic and is an excellent squad player. But it is only because of the constraints of the cap, and overall poor standard of SL that Hughes, Gelling and Thornley are deemed to be adequate filler-ins at 3 and 4.

Bear in mind goulding had 6 sl seasons before having a good run at centre. Hopefully gelling wont need that time to improve his passing.

Agreed, which is why I suggest that Thornley may benefit from a spell on the wing, which helped DG so much.
Not too sure where you would put AG though to gain experience ? Hes not as good a wing as IT and we also have Manfredi and Burgess 'in the wings' so to speak.
Centre appears to be his best spot, its just that its such a pivotal position that its hard to 'learn on the job' at SL level. I genuinely hope he thrives and develops quickly, its just awkward because of the new rules which make it difficult for older players to gain experience.

Eh? He was our starting centre 5 years ago he just lost the spot

from what i recall he started at centre then had spells on the flanks. he always had flair, but was just too greedy when he first played in the middle, so could never really hold down a spot. moving him to the wing allowed him to mature as a RL player so that when he got his chance at centre again, he was more able to take it.
the point i think, is that he was given time to mature, which Gelling also needs.

Gelling looks better everytime he plays.
Thornley was played for too many games. At one point he was our only ever present player and was then looking a bit jaded. He only played three SL games prior to this season.
He messed up in the first half when he should have passed to Charnley. Bradford last night, and other opposition teams, see Charnley as their biggest threat. That's why his centre is being tackled by three men every time he gets the ball.
Last night it was Thornley's turn.
Talking to a Leeds fan who went last night and he thought Thornley looked good.
A real positive that we've got three good centres.

Anybody know what's up with Goulding ? Seems like he plays one then misses three !

I took someone who had never been to a game before tonight and he thought Gelling must be a KR pkayer due to the amount of stick he got off Wigan 'supporters'. He took the match winning try well. Keep it up Gells!

Hit and miss tonight from the big lad. Couple of knock ons and a couple of times he could have put Burgess away down the wing. Solid enough in defence and shows he is class at taking on the line. Maybe a 5/10 this week, can do better, but not a shocker by any means!

He needs to change how he carries the ball, far too often he loses the ball in the tackle.

Other than that he's got a lot of potential, we just need a strong partnership on that wing.

He scored a good try, but please keep him away from Wembley !

lets keep making excuses for him

Hopefully he will be trained for a second row berth as Hughes should be, neither are a capable centre, and both lack positional sense and handling skills required for that position, and show no sign of learning from their previous failings.

Yes he scored a try but he was absolutely shocking, with the ball and without.

Has some kind of heart defect that needs monitoring

Wonder how many of the Gelling badgers actually saw Iain Thornley's defensive displays at Hull, at Wakefield & at Widnes? He was removed from the field early in two of those games. That's why Gelling got in.

Not a great game for him last night but he has had some good performances as well. Physically he is strong but he needs to work on his mental combination with team mates.

That said I'd have kept Thornley in after last week. If we could fuse the two and have Thornley's attack with Gelling's defence then I'd be well chuffed.

Iv slagged Gelling in the past, and still think there's huge room for improvement but on this occasion im willing to defend him. I dont see what he did so wrong last night, he took his try well, defended well and was always a threat with the ball. He knocked on in the first half and people seemed to have jumped on this one mistake and focused completely on that. At this moment in time he's our best option for left centre, he's more of a threat than Thornley and a better defender. He's certainly improved ten fold since moving into that spot.

People around me weren't even giving him a chance, so what he knocked on twice? Every frigger has done that before, one guy near me screamed 'Get him off were better off with just 12 men on the pitch than having that donkey on' which is just pathetic. For me Jack Hughes makes just as many, if more brain farts/mistakes but no one ever mentions it. His try was class, not many could do that.

He does far more good things, some absolute class things, than he does bad. End of.

I tend to agree with this. He is far too much of a risk to play in the final and I would much prefer to see Thornley there. Gelling is far too much of a liability and has far too many mistakes in him which results in possession being lost at vital times. He doesnt look like a natural centre either and just hasnt the brains or ability to play there.

Thornley has made as many mistakes as Gelling. Hence why he was dropped. Gelling has grown on me, but, im not 100% confident in either of them at Wembley.

When Gelling does good things, they tend to be 'solo efforts' ie the try he took last night, his go forward, taking quick PTB, aerial work. However, it all goes wrong when he has to link in to the rest of the team. He doesnt read the play well when he's on the wing and he doesnt link well with his winger when he's at centre.

the question is - can we 'coach' him a rugby brain ? lots of promise, and potential. but its been nearly 2 seasons now, and he is being hampered by not being allowed to game time with the U19s.

big season for AG next year (I think thats when his contract is renewed isnt it?).

I disagree as do the stats. Gelling has made far more errors than Thornley and has not even played in half the games, that isnt even including the 2 errors (at least) that he made last night. It is also telling that up to now the coaching staff have picked Thornley in the majority of the big games and largely given Gelling a run out against the like of Widnes, Cas, Bradford etc. I cant say that bar a good game against Widnes that he has particulalry impressed against these lesser team either. I dont think Thornley is the finished article either but he is no worse in defence and is a damn site better in attack and can actually play like a centre and set up his winger.

Said exactly the same last night (to the spewing masses).