Absolutely!

Maybe if MM played him at centre last year instead of Joel, we could of had a cup & super league double

He was injured for some considerable time last season, but I agree he's 10 times the centre Joel was who we haven't missed at all this year.

We got well over £200k for Joel too.
As has been said, not missed one bit now!
Well done Goulding.

It's a big disingenuous to say that Joel Tomkins has not been missed. Who would you rather coming off the bench, Tuson, Farrell or Tomkins?

Just watched the game again, absolutely excellent it was. There was also a heck of a lot of skill with the flick pass for Charnleys hat trick as the pass to Goulding was poor in the first place and was way above his head. Even for Charnleys first Goulding timed a pass to perfection to Sam who then set up Charnley. If Watkins or Atkins had done those 3 things wiggy would have crowed on about it endlessly.

You have to consider the comparable wages those players are on and I'd choose Farrell for the wage this guy gets he's a lot better value than Joel and I rate him very highly. I also think Liam's agility would make him a better Union player than Tomkins but I don't ever see him leaving so I won't worry about that.

Possibly, but Shaun Mcrae certainly sang his praises during the game.

Simply outstanding this season. His centre/wing partnership with Josh is the form one in SL. In this instance, stats certainly don't lie.

Agreed entirely.

JT was one of the most athletic lads at the club. His try at Wembley/against the Exiles etc Big, powerful, strong and quick - awesome forward. He's been a loss to our pack. It goes without saying I'd sooner have JT than Lauaki or Flower.

Its not as simple as that is it? It would have been joel or flower/tuson/Lauaki not just one player

The biggest compliment I can give him, is that I thought we missed him today. As well as Hughes played, Darrel offers far more of an attacking threat. I thought as consequence of Goulding not playing that Charnley didn't get his usual opportunities in attack.

Agreed. There were 2 occasions today when I thought Charnley would have had tries if Goulding was playing. This is not to take anything away from Hughes though as he did well standing in at short notice and is great back up to have. He is obviously a second row though and a damn fine prospect there as well.

Been impressed with Goulding this season.
Up there with Ryan Atkins as the form centre in SL.
How come he didnt play against Saints?

Crocked himself in training Thursday.

Its been mentioned (on here) that a large divot in the pitch was to blame.

With out attacking Jack Hughes who I thought had a alright game we really did miss Goulding yesterday which shows how important he is to the team.

Shaun Wane says the same on the post match interviews. Something to the effect of we are a different team when he plays and how he thinks he has been outstanding all season and one of our best players.

I wouldn't write Hughes off as a centre yet. Playing centre at the highest level is not something you pick up straight away, especially attack-wise. I agree that if Daz was playing we'd probably have won more comfortably but Hughes will learn from the mistakes he made and his handling skills can always be improved. I think he probably chose the safest option by not offloading which is more down to confidence than ability

Spot on. We would be a better team with Joel still in the squad.

I like Farrell but he is not as good as Joel and Tuson is no where near as good. As to his wages or value for money he was on a five year deal so the cost was already factored into the clubs plans so money wasn't an issue anyway.

Back O/T, as chat about Joel should now be on a Union thread. Really pleased that Mr Goulding has shut up the posters on this board who were almost suggesting he should sell his boots. Good on you son, keep shutting them up!!!

The mention of his name doesn't mean it should automatically be in a union thread. People were just saying we would be stronger than we are now with a player who was with us last season, which I agree with. Yesterdays starting pack with a bench of Lima, Joel, Faz and Lauaki/Dudson/Flower would be almost unplayable.

Even though Hughes is an able deputy, we defo missed Darrell yesterday.

How long is he out for? Back for Hudds?

What was actually wrong with him?

of course the money is an issue! the whole reason he left was because of money so had he stayed he would have been given a pay rise! just look at sam tomkins, he had a contract aswell but still got a big pay rise!