Good luck to Goulding. He and Charnley presented one of the best pairings I have seen play for Wigan, so I'm sad to see that it won't be resurrected after they have both had problems with injury.

A centre with a great brain. He knows how to set up a winger whenever he has the chance, be it by quick hands, a flick or a little grubber. His defensive reads imo have been fantastic (though he did have the odd nightmare game), at times it felt like we would go weeks without leaking a single try down his edge. He does the little things well, his scooting technique has always impressed me, and he will put his hand up when we need it. It's a shame he isn't particularly athletically gifted, but he made it work. Obviously not in the same class, but he's not too dissimilar to Lyon in the way he goes about his game.

I hope he continues to improve and nail that year-to-year consistency. He strikes me as a guy who shouldn't really lose much when he gets older (as he didn't have that much to rely on physically) so he has every chance of continuing to improve if he can apply himself.

Best of luck to him.

Sad to see him go really, a good player, a Wigan lad and one of the club's longest serving players. I personally think we should be doing all we can to keep hold of our established players, maybe the club tried but not hard enough?

There's an interesting snippet amongst his interview: "and the fact they wanted me so much (Hull KR) was a really good feeling to have." Maybe a hint that he knew he wasn't wanted at Wigan?

What worries me about this is we are losing yet another good player for no good reason.

The tipping point has arrived for me.

We can't just keep on putting youngsters in the team and hope it works. Shaun Wane worked miracles last year and I don't think it is fair to keep expecting him to work more miracles.

I was only thinking the other day how few mistakes Pat used to make. As promising as he is Burgess's game is riddled with mistakes. I think he has made more than any other player in Super League. That's what you get with youngsters. Burgess will be good, but he needs a break for a few months to work on his game.

Sarginson is a full back only. He is not a centre. Gelling has done well but he just can't pass the ball to his winger with any consistency. Thornley started the season well but IMO needs to improve a lot before he can nail down a spot.

Bowen has either been brilliant or hopeless, with nothing much in between. I'm not convinced yet by Hampshire, and he's nowhere near good enough to be handed a regular starting spot.

Green will be missed. None of the youngsters are good enough to replace him. Some people have mentioned Todd Carney. Now, this guy is absolute class and I would love to see him play. I doubt that Wigan will be interested though - although to be fair he does bring a lot of baggage.

It is going to take Joel months to get fit enough to play League again, in fact I doubt we will see the best of him until next season, if ever.

Sorry to be so pessimistic. I just feel that we are going backwards quickly. We have lost one game for every two that we have won this year. Not good enough.

Why are so many players so keen to up sticks and leave - to add to last season's exodus now we have Green, Goulding, Taylor & Sutton (plus maybe Bowen)?

If this leaking of players isn't addressed soon IL should not be surprised if more FANS don't up sticks and leave too!

Miles better than what we have at the moment, so I'm smiling. Hope the rumours about Burns to you are not true, he is a top quality player.

John bateman to hull kr, is this a wind up?

I don't mean to be cynical, but have there been any threads on here at any stage over the years protesting at Goulding being left out of the team? Madge basically benched him in his second year and I don't recall anyone taking him up on it, and I can't recall anyone arguing about his being dropped earlier this year. His stock may have risen because he wasn't playing last friday of course. Any Wigan fan who turns their back on the club because Goulding has left must be a close relative of his.

Nice bit of revisionist history going on there. You are going on about Madge, Goulding scored 25 tries one of the seasons and won a Grand Final. The 2nd season Josh came on the scene and Goulding was injured for a good part of it anyway. He would have been 21,22 when Madge was here, show me an established centre at that sort of age at a top club. Josh has been dropped countless times over the years, including a couple this season and it doesnt change the fact he is a class winger.

He missed on Friday because he was injured, with the same knee injury that he has had since the start of the season and what has caused him to miss numerous game this season. Phil Wilkinson has mentioned about it enough times and said that is why he was on the bench the couple of games that he was, because they had run out of bodies and he was the most fit. You do also realise he told the club almost 2 months ago that he was leaving and has never been dropped by Wane until then.

Goulding is a very underrated player who has given great service to Wigan and I wish him all the best. I cant believe that Wigan have lost the best centre at the club and if we dont sign a replacement we are struggling next season. This is Hansen mk2 and the club cannot afford to keep losing its experienced players.

I think Gouldinghe has gallen foul of the way we want to play due to his lack of athleticism or pace. He is average in most physical department, he doesn't have one trait that sets him apart.

I always saw this season as a transitional one, I will be worried if we are not bringing players in but that is not something we can assess right now.

If we are to improve as a team we have to improve individually. I don't feel Goulding has any improvement in him.

I can't understand the pessimism so long before our 2015 squad is anywhere near finalised.

Tis the way of things...

This, plus if anyone wants to complain about us losing quality players all I can say is we have lost, and probably will lose this season, way better than Goulding . Good luck to the lad but the fact that he has joined HKR is testament in itself IMO.

Watkins at Leeds

Wardle at Hudds

Cudjoe at Hudds

Turner @ Saints

Is Sutton leaving?

Rumour on the other board that Sutton has signed for a Sydney club.

A real shame if true but we'll hopefully get a clause to get him back at some point.

Shame to see him go (if there is truth in the rumour). Been really impressed with his appearances thus far. Tackled well, made good metres and hasn't been dominated by older, more experienced props.

Not heard this Sutton one but if the confirmed departures of Green and Goulding are added to the rumoured/expected ones of Taylor, James, Sutton, Dudson and possibly Bowen then it's hardly an exodus like what we have seen in previous years. Green and Bowen were expected to leave at the end of this season (I think Bowen will do another year FWIW) and out of the others Taylor is the only one guaranteed to make our strongest 17 every week, and if rumours are to be believed it's him who wants the move.

Obviously the loss of 4 forwards would mean we would need to recruit probably another 1 or 2 alongside Tautai and Tomkins, but it's early days as far as our recruitment goes so I'll reserve judgement until we know exactly who else is leaving and coming in. All the club have said so far is they aren't looking elsewhere to replace Green and Goulding (not something I massively agree with, particularly the latter).

Must admit read all the rumours but didnt see it coming off to be honest. Read your posts and obviously you pies still rate the guy. Big well done to rovers to get him, our big gain your loss. From what ive seen of wigan this season i would,nt worry to much about your next mass player exodus...exiting times ahead. Dont think my other rovers fan,s cheeky rumour about Travis Burns will happen...would,nt fit in. Too old

Yes. We lost as game to Leeds when Noble was coach and Goulding was dropped when there were at least half a dozen other players equally at fault for the loss but as was his want Noble cast the blame towards a young player. He hardly got a look in again pretty much like several young players back then.

There was plenty of discussion about this at the time.

His career only got back on track after Noble left and since then when fit he tends to play so what does that say if not he is a first choice centre?



He was injured in Madge's 2nd year for most of the season. He has had an injury this year as well and as regards being dropped for the Cas game alongside Taylor there was plenty of dissent about that decision!

On this seasons form Goulding is well back in third place for the centre positions. Goulding, 1 try, 2 clean breaks, 2 try assists, 738 metres, 22 tackle busts 182 tackles, 12 errors, 2 penalties, 22 missed tackles. Sarginson, 7 tries, 8 clean breaks, 7 try assists, 1480 metres, 53 tackle busts 131 tackles, 12 errors, 2 penalties, 26 missed tackles. Gelling 6 tries, 6 clean breaks, 5 try assists, 1751 metres, 45 tackle busts 132 tackles, 13 errors, 3 penalties, 19 missed tackles www.superleague.co.uk/matchday/player/1806 www.superleague.co.uk/matchday/player/11190 www.superleague.co.uk/matchday/player/20446 Obviously the other big advantage that Sarginson and Gelling have is that they can also cover other positions.

On this seasons form Goulding is well back in third place for the centre positions. Goulding, 1 try, 2 clean breaks, 2 try assists, 738 metres, 22 tackle busts 182 tackles, 12 errors, 2 penalties, 22 missed tackles. Sarginson, 7 tries, 8 clean breaks, 7 try assists, 1480 metres, 53 tackle busts 131 tackles, 12 errors, 2 penalties, 26 missed tackles. Gelling 6 tries, 6 clean breaks, 5 try assists, 1751 metres, 45 tackle busts 132 tackles, 13 errors, 3 penalties, 19 missed tackles www.superleague.co.uk/matchday/player/1806 www.superleague.co.uk/matchday/player/11190 www.superleague.co.uk/matchday/player/20446 Obviously the other big advantage that Sarginson and Gelling have is that they can also cover other positions.

And they have not had a recurring knee injury since the World Club Challenge and played in games when they really shouldnt have done. They have also not been dealing with contract negotiations and signed for another club 2 months ago. I am sure this hasnt had anything to do with Goulding's form this season though

What's Darrell having for his tea tonight, Mrs Goulding?

So basically you agree his form hasn't been as good as the other two? And Gelling has been in contract negotiations.

It's his decision, and he has taken it. Good luck to him I hope all goes well at HKR.

Also if he has this recurring knee problem then maybe that's a reason why Wigan weren't keen on a longer term deal?