I see Gelling being a really good replacement for Carmont in the very near future, especially when Pat's back in the side (and the other youngsters start getting more games).

I wouldn't move Goulding, he and Charnley are forming a good understanding partnership, especially with SOL feeding them quick passes.

Shouldnt he learn how to play RL in the reserves not in our first team?

His positioning is terrible, there have been so many times when if he had been in position there were certain tries on

Looked like SW was furious in the stand last night with Gelling in the first half, lip reading him there was a few expletives spoken. I wouldnt want to have been sat in the row in infront!!

its a good job wigan pieman wasnt sat there...I couldnt do with another 20 page thread

I don't mind Gelling at all. The mistakes he made last night were all mental errors, which can be worked on and ironed out in training. He clearly has ability and if we can find a way for him to perform consistently we'll have a very good player on our hands

Tony Iro ??? or even Kevin,at this age. Was there ever a more fustraiting centre wing partnership? Look what they produced the rest they say is history..............................

Yes, but until those mistakes are ironed out, either in training and/or in the reserves, he's not yet ready for the first team. Others have been dropped for similarly poor performances.

Whats the point in putting him in the reserves hes not going to learn anything there .Lets face it hes a an overseas player counting on the QUOTA so he has to make it quick or shown the door he has the potential so i think we should persevere .

What's the point in keeping a winger out of the team while someone struggles to adapt to a position they weren't really signed to fill in the first place? Just because he's a quota player doesn't mean he should be in the team.

We need to replace Carmont next year, that's important, but we need to replace Richards this year because he's not set to return any time soon. At this moment in time I'd say it makes sense to play a winger on the wing.

Pat's injury provided a good opportunity to find out which wingers can step up and I don't see the point in persevering with a player who is looking so out of his depth when it comes to very simple, and arguably the most important, aspects of wing play.

The quota's not a problem, we only have 3 of the five allowed. The thing is about the reserves, they play to similar structures that the first team employ, so some time there will still be beneficial. Competition for places should mean just that, and if there are more capable players, they should be picked, irrespective of nationality.

So the reserves play similar structures to the first team thats why players go on dual contract to SL teams to gain experience ?
Heard a frightening rumour last Saturday off a steward who is grandfather of a current Wigan player on loan and he said that Pat Richards is finished his knees are shot hope its not true .

His potential isn't wiped out by one dodgy game.

Reminds me of a young David Vaealiki. Remember the young Vaealiki was actually a pretty decent centre in the NRL - he simply lost all of his speed and agility after his Achilles injury (which is when Maurice signed him).

Looks much more a centre than a winger but dropping him isn't an option in my opinion as he is clearly the best bet we have there at present. At least he's decent at taking high balls and if we persevere his positioning both in attack and defence will improve.

I agree with this, he has what it takes and will, if given a chance get it right. We have a problem on the wing with Pat out and no matter who SW brings in he would make mistakes too. In my mind he's got what it takes, putting him in the reserves now won't solve the problem we have in the first team and I bet who ever took his place would not be perfect either. He has done as many good things as bad and he has not cost us a game yet, alright, if he shows no signs of getting up to speed, then fine, give someone else a go, but I bet whoever gets the nod he won't please everyone!. Some people expect too much, too soon. I love a trier, and you can see in the guys face he's trying.

Things that suggest Gelling would be better at centre than he is as a winger:
1. He got to where he is now (i.e a professional rugby player) by playing at well at centre
2. He is strong and reasonably fast
3. His main problems stem from poor positioning and mistiming his runs, perhaps because he's not used to the positions and run timings of a winger

I'm not saying he would absolutely tear it up from day 1 at centre, and I fully acknowledge that Goulding is in brilliant form there, but what I am saying is that I think Gelling would be much better at centre than on the wing, and that we know Darrell Goulding can do an outstanding job out wide (see 2010, 25 tries in 26 games). It would be a shame to see Goulding moved away from 3, but I genuinely think the team would be stronger that way, which is the most important thing.

id say goulding is doing better at than carmont, and as carmont is probably faster than goulding, just swap gelling and carmont if anything. as we know, carmont is already a great finisher and thats what is missing at the moment.

You might be on to something there actually.

By structures, I mean things like defensive patterns, attacking moves, support play and so on. I do agree that the quality of opposition isn't as good in the reserves, which is why players are sent out on loan/dual reg...maybe that's an option for him?

To be clear, I'm definitely not saying write him off, I do think he's going to be a great asset for us in the near future, I just think he's better brushing up on his skills somewhere other than the first team. At present both King and Russell have better handling and positional attributes than he does, though I do concede they aren't as good in the air.

And I say, at present, both these players would be punished far more defensively and on kicks than Gelling.
With a bit of luck he'd be sat on 6/7/8 tries after the same amount of games (And he'd be the New Shaun Ainscough) whilst defensively I don't remember him doing too much wrong?

The "Teams" playing well, he's contributing in many ways (Whilst making a few dodgy decisions/errors 10/20 mktrs from the opposing line which is far betther than the other way round IMO).

Fair enough, although I would have to say I doubt we will see Gelling playing in the centres this year unless we get hit with injuries. My main issue with your suggestion was splitting up Daz and Josh on the right.

It is far too early to make a definite assessment of him at this stage of his career and as such you are going to get massive differences in opinions on him amongst fans, from those saying he's not good enough get shut (probably the same people who have slated Richards, McIlorum, Goulding, Finch, Riddell, etc etc in the past) to those who are saying he is going to be a world beater.

After half a dozen games he has made mistakes and showed touches of class. He needs to continue to get his head down, work hard, keep learning and do everything that Wane, Harris, Bitcon ask of him and that will give him every chance of becoming a top level rugby league player, be it in the centre, on the wing or in the back row.

Goulding is faster

Gelling got to where he is now by playing well at second row. When he was younger he was a centre as far as I'm aware, which means someone must have chosen to move him out of the centres and into the forwards. If he was that good at centre you'd have to question why he wasn't played there except as a stand in.

In his outings during pre-season his defence at centre was a little shaky which is why Jack Hughes was preferred at centre. I would imagine that if Goulding was to be moved onto the wing it would be Hughes who moved to centre rather than Gelling.

Had Gelling made improvements in his defence at centre then his attacking play would probably put him ahead of Hughes but because Gelling hasn't played at centre for a while it's hard to see how anyone would be able to tell whether his defence has improved.

While Goulding has done very well on the wing it just seems really counter productive to move our best centre away from the position where he's playing the best rugby of his career and splitting up what is arguably the most productive centre/wing partnership in Super League.

If Gelling isn't doing enough on the wing then he should be dropped and replaced with a winger.

Gelling might well be excellent if he's played at centre but it seems like a big assumption and a completely unnecessary risk to start moving players around when they've finally found some consistency which has appeared to benefit their game.

Lets get off the kids back. I still think he has what it takes, he has more good points than bad, and what's bad can be put right. He has not cost us a game yet, and I think that at times he has shown he does have a game brain, (admitted the Huddersfield touchline blunder was a shocker.) but once him and Carmont get their timing sorted they may turn out to be a very good combo. He's big, strong, good in the air and defence, he just needs to learn. So let him!

Another 159 metres from Gelling on Friday, more than any Huddersfield player, and second only to Shaun O'Loughlin (190 meters)

At the moment the positives are outweighing the negatives IMO.

Made the same amount of errors as Lockers too.

i don't have a problem with Gelling making meters, it means that every 1m he makes it saves the props/2nd R energy to put in bigger hits on the opposition when we are defending and saves their energy to help with the line speed. At the moment his errors in attack have not cost us a win and with time hopefully he and George will work out their positioning in relation to each other. George does throw a lot of passes out behind Gelling as that is where he is used to pat being, just a few tweaks and they may click and be a real handful for the opposition.