I wonder why.

I don't know why people are so uptight about questioning Goulding's position at the club. It's a warrented debate.

People can't deny that he's a very good finishing winger who was unlucky to lose Gleeson and have his wing spot challenged by Charnley who is one of the country's biggest prospects. The fact he has struggled to cement the centre spot for Wigan after 5/6 years in the first team yet gained international honours after one season playing on the wing suggests which position he should be made to fight for.

Nobody is blaming him for the defeat, they're merely questioning whether he is the long term answer for a specific position despite having ample time and opportunities.

I seem to remember similar threads with regards to the Wigan player wearing the no.3 jersey back in 2006.

Quote ="WarriorSteve"OMG.... This thread is a Joke... and typically of my appathy to many of our fans... The lads 24.. played through the pain barrier for our great club and is trying his best and was by far not the worst player yesterday.. FFS give the guy a chance... Could we please have a season where scapegoats are a thing of the past and appreciate that we have a coaching staff who will pick on form and not on reputation. I even heard a few boos after yesterdays loss..... I am getting disolutioned with the pathetic nature of some of our so called "fans"... RANT OVER...'" Here you go take a look at the stats www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011 Like what 21-12 and abp said he's not a 'scapgoat' just not a centre and i think that link says it all really

Quote ="WarriorSteve"OMG.... This thread is a Joke... and typically of my appathy to many of our fans... The lads 24.. played through the pain barrier for our great club and is trying his best and was by far not the worst player yesterday.. FFS give the guy a chance... Could we please have a season where scapegoats are a thing of the past and appreciate that we have a coaching staff who will pick on form and not on reputation. I even heard a few boos after yesterdays loss..... I am getting disolutioned with the pathetic nature of some of our so called "fans"... RANT OVER...'" Here you go take a look at the stats www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011 Like what 21-12 and abp said he's not a 'scapgoat' just not a centre and i think that link says it all really

we could do with McAvoy back

Honestly can't remember seeing these chances. If the break isn't on then Goulding needs to take the tackle, quick play the ball and off we go again. The massive problem for us was the overall error rate. How many times did our attack break down, how many tackles were missed in the middle of the park??? This has got to be corrected and if it is, I'm sure we'll do ok.

Quote ="king warrior"Here you go take a look at the stats www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011 Like what 21-12 and abp said he's not a 'scapgoat' just not a centre and i think that link says it all really'" What is supposed to be significant about those stats? They don't say anything about whether he's a centre or not. One shows his 9 games at Salford (where he played mostly on the wing) and the other shows his 2010 season playing mostly on the wing.

Quote ="king warrior"Here you go take a look at the stats www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011 Like what 21-12 and abp said he's not a 'scapgoat' just not a centre and i think that link says it all really'" What is supposed to be significant about those stats? They don't say anything about whether he's a centre or not. One shows his 9 games at Salford (where he played mostly on the wing) and the other shows his 2010 season playing mostly on the wing.

I just thought I'd bump this to show how slagging a player off after one game is the height of wittery.

That's Charnley, leading try scorer in SL and Goulding who only has 5 players ahead of him in terms of clean breaks. One of our most improved players this season for me. Keep it up Darrell.

That's not a good example for a mod is it.

I was one that didn't think goulding was a centre but he's proving me wrong (so far) re-bump it again at the end of the season and we"ll all have a proper debate.

I think the debates warranted now tbh. We're 10 games in and Daz has been outstanding so far. That is 10 more games then some people thought he was capable of as a centre. His alround game has been exceptional. He's solid as a rock in defence, he's making breaks for fun, he's setting try's up and scoring them and these aren't walk ins either.

He's playing better then Joel Tomkins ever did as a centre for us and tbh I'd actually say his form is at least on a par with what Gleeson achieved here as well.

I don't always agree with Andy (

) and his typically robust language was a bit much for me, but I agree with the sentiment.

One thing that particularly hacks me off are people slagging off hard working Wiganers playing for this club. (Why don't we just leave the attacks on our own to those outside the club? I will never understand this.)

The ridiculous abuse Lockers has had over the years disgusts me and I've never been happy with the criticism heaped on Goulding. It's great to see him proving the critics wrong.

He's may not be a world beater but British RL isn't exactly overrun with sensational centres and for my money this season he has shown that he's one of the best British players in his position. He's streets ahead of Shenton for starters.

Nice one WLandy.. the negativity on this forum is unbelieveable sometimes. Dig another one up for Micky Mc.....

I have noticed the debate about Goulding on this site over the last couple of years and it as proved to give a bit of an insight in peoples knowledge of the game.
Even though Goulding had played all is junior rugby as a centre he was asked to fill in as a wing when he first got his chance in the first team,this he did well by finishing off a lot of chances created by Gleeson. Most of these chances where run 10 yards and put the balldown. But he did everything that was asked of him,the sign of a decent player who is doing the simple things well.
This season he has been asked to move into the centres and in my opinion he has come on a ton,he is showing his centres instincts by seeming to make the right descision most of the time by knowing when to pass to his winger or give a dummy and cut inside. Personally my opinion of him is he will become a good centre and never let you down but to be a great centre he lacks genuine pace to be up there with the best.

I'm claiming fair comment and the swear filter thinks it's ok.



We don't need to wait until the end of the season, the point was some people can't wait to slag off players after one game, simply showing themselves as a certain type of "fan". If some are feeling a bit sheepish about it now they need to backtrack a bit, good.

Goulding has been sensational this season. End of debate.

So has McIllorum. Another player who has divided opinion.

Is it too soon for Goulding to be pushing for an England cap?

Goulding is one of the in-form centre's in the SL at present and if he keeps this current form up there is no reason why he can't play for England. Especially if Charnley is going to play Left Wing, than what better person to have inside him, then club mate Goulding.

This season he has been fantastic proving me wrong about him week in week out. I'm made up to have him in the team NOW.
I Don't know why he seems a completely different player but he is.

I used to call him "the end" because the ball wasn't going to go anywhere from him. He was fairly solid and dependable but nothing special. We arent talking about someone settling in either, he had a long period to show anything like this form and didn't.

But you know what I don't care!

Right now...
He is playing great. Has created a really good partnership with Josh and I hope THIS version of him keeps it up.
Right now without question our most improved player by a country mile.

Over the bloody moon for the lad.

Long may this continue.

He is playing well but I would much rather see Atkins for England, is is quite a bit ahead of Goulding at the mo

i wish goulding had atkins body because he would be qaulity player the thing holding atkins back is attitude. when he is up against a player who can handle hes size he is poop and plays like it. but saying that gouldings size is what would put me off choosing him for england.

To be fair, the criticism of him in the past has been well justified, he has never played like he is doing this season,(at centre) he just needs to keep it up consistently now, him and Chanrley could be a brilliant partnership for years at Wigan.

Goulding has been excellent this season and does anyone now miss Joel at centre?
As for the England gig, right centre would seem to be Reed's slot. Goulding has to take it from him, a hard ask.
With Atkins it's different, attack wise he is brilliant at times. Defence is his issue, he can tackle but can't defend and goes out of position and gets lost.
Goulding can tackle and defend. His positonal sense is superb.
None of this may matter as McNamara is coach.
Selecting Welham says more about McNamara than the HKR lad.
He was out of his depth coaching at Bradford as for England,less said the better.

Indeed. Which probably shows that some people can be a little too quick to judge. Some players need time or an extended run in one position to develop. There is no 'one size fits all' for the way players progress.

Wise words.

Hope people who have posted on here criticising Darrell have well and truly eaten their words. Once again today he was outstanding and looks brilliant in that centre spot. Scoring tries for fun also