Gelling has signed for Widnes on a 2 year deal starting from next season. Got to say I’m a bit gutted,I was always pro Gelling both on and off the field and would have liked him back at the club,he’s considerably better than Sarge.
I know he’s got connections at Widnes and was linked with them before he left us,decent chance he could be playing in the championship next year.

I did like him as a player I must admit but I also think we need to move on from this re signing players who think they’re moving on to bigger and better things or going back to Aus/NZ due to family issues.

Good luck to the lad but I dont think we will see Gelling in SL with Widnes in 2019.

To be fair the bloke didn’t leave because we ‘wanted bigger and better things’, he went to be close to his girlfriend who was in a serious condition.

Good player but there is better out there, good luck to him but am more than happy that we haven’t re-signed him

now i'm not trying to be insensitive in any way, but if he had returned for family reasons, does that mean the girlfriend is now on the mend and coming back to the UK with him?

just seems a little odd to have left wigan for that matter, which of course was the right thing to do, but then to announce he is to come back to the UK less than a season later. was something really going on at wigan, perhaps?

Or was something going on inside Gelling's head, like 'I can move on to bigger and better things'? Only to then find that he couldn't.

i can't see it to be honest, we weren't exactly top of the pile last year.

If I recall correctly Gelling girlfriend was in a very serious condition after a car accident though I may be very wrong on that and I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

He left without a club to go to and picked up a contract with NZW mainly playing for a feeder team.

No you're right. He posted several images of her in hospital after the crash; was quite a serious crash, from that point on Gells wanted to be back in NZ for her. After spending time back home he decided he felt it was right for him to be in NZ.

Perhaps coming back to the UK is his now only option to earn a living.

GELLING OUT!!!

I know that’s why I put the bit about family issues



No hard feelings from me at all but as another poster has said there is better centres out there.

He left to be with his missus who was hurt in a car accident and was without a club on returning home. I don’t follow too much NRL but I know early season it was looking promising for him but the Warriors have some decent centres on their books so it was always going to be hard to break in as a regular.
People may think he’s a prat both on and off the field but he added unpredictablity to a predictable attack at times and he is such a strong runner and hard to stop,for me he’s a well above average superleague centre which is a position we sorely need to strengthen and unless there is things behind the scenes we don’t know I think we should have been in for him at the right price.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. Not quite good enough for consistent NRL appearances IMHO.

I guess it will all pan out in the fullness of time when we see our squad finalised for 2019 but you would have to say he would have been an improvement on Sarg.

With Bateman looking likely to be away as well I think he would have been a good addition to the backrow.

This however as stated above could all change once we know how our squad looks for next season.

Glad that Wigan as not gone for a returning player once they leave Wigan should be never to return hope Wigan as now found this out.

I enjoyed his time here, sad when he left, glad he is not coming back... Move on.

I made no secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of Gelling. He’s big, strong and very athletic and chews up the ground from his own half and can be very unpredictable with the ball. Yes he was prone to the odd brain fart but they became fewer as his experience grew.
I agree though that there are better centres out there but I’m not sure how many of them are realistic targets for us. As others have said, I’ll reserve judgment until we know how our squad looks next season. Good luck to Gells, top bloke.

Good post. Hopefully the club have something in the pipeline for the centre position, for example Josh Morris.

I very much doubt we will end us with a SOO representative and Aussie International, but here's hoping

Former SOO, former Aus representative. 31 years of age. Wouldn't be out of the blue to sign a former origin player would it?

At 31 the Morris lads still have 2 or 3 good seasons in them at SL level. I’ve watched plenty of NRL this season and both are still contributing a lot to their team’s performance.
I posted a list of 10 NRL players out of contract for 2019. Maybe we’ll see one at Wigan?

I think both brothers would rip up SL if they head over seas. Josh Morris who's a centre, would be a great addition to our squad.

Hayne would be a true marquee, but with pending rape charge court case hanging over his head from his time in the US, who knows what the future holds for him.

Seems an odd character to me does Hayne. All the talent in the world but his decision to try American Football probably prevented him from becoming one of the RL greats. At this stage in his career and as you say with the Court case, I can’t help wondering if he’d bother coming over even if we wanted him.

He seems to like an adventure and a challenge, NRL, NFL, Fiji RU, maybe super league would tick another box. BUT... who knows with him. All we can do is speculate.

Seems odd to me as well. While his girlfriend [iwas[/i in a car accident I don't think she was in as serious a condition as some are suggesting. I saw tweets from him saying she was bruised and shaken up and was on the mend before he actually left and there was no suggestion other than she would make a full recovery. So that reason for going was always a temporary one and one where Wigan could have easily given him compassionate leave for while his GF got better. I am sure I recall comment from the club saying his return to NZ was temporary when he first went. I am also certain that he eventually then said that wasn't the only reason he said he wanted to return to NZ but that he wanted to be near his family which was the real reason the move was supposed to be permanent. The move back had to be viewed by Wigan as permanent or otherwise there was no need to release him from his contract and going to the lengths of signing another player.

This may seem a bit harsh but he's basically got out of his Wigan contract on a pretence. I have no idea if he asked Wigan if he could come back but given the club signed Sarge even if he did I am guessing they won't have wanted to spend any spare salary cap space on him. I am not in favour of signing ex players back anyway and never rated him (was the same project player the day he left as he was when he arrived) so he's no loss so I am not bothered he's not rejoined Wigan. It's the contractual side that bothers me. Get the club to release you on compassionate grounds and then join a rival club a few months later? The club has had enough trouble holding players to contracts as it is without this sort of thing.