I think the same was said about Tony Gelling - man of the people, only for him to end up gigging at lesser clubs within 12 months of him leaving the UK for good. I wonder when he'll pop up again at somewhere like York or Halifax?

I think Hastings and Gelling are in two separate classes.

100%

I'm not sure why there now seems to be a bit of a trend to knock Hastings. He was absolutely class imo & I wish he'd have stayed for the rest of his career.

Gelling would make our 13 imo, he’s no doubt good enough to play in the Superleague.

Perhaps he'll return at right centre when/if Zac departs. That would be a laugh!

I personally rated Gells. Was a superb wingers centre for a few years and a Match winner on occasions.

I think it was him, JT and Dom down the right for a few years and that Was a frightening combo. Scored some worldies between them.

Spot on, massively under rated.

Is Gelling any worse than what we will have have at Centre with Gildart gone and Hardacre possibly following?

Agree. Never really got the flack he used to get.

I thought he was a top end SL standard centre.

Big unit, massive go forward and could put his winger away.

Clearly there are things off the field which have held him back but I thought he was a very good asset for us.

Field played a lot in 2020 when Mitchel Moses was injured, he's scarily quick, hopefully he still has his pace.

When I've watched Manly Cust has stood out because he is an attacking threat, he's a strong runner with a very good step.

If Cust and Field play 6 and 7 I'm hoping one of them can step up and organise, hopefully 1 has a decent kicking game, my concern is they are both runners and we have a Denis Moran type issue.

Wane won’t work with Gelling again.

Whilst Gelling is clearly a talent on the field he lost the trust of the coaches a while back.

His social media persona is extremely misleading.

The Thornley signing might not excite some supporters but he’s a coaches dream in relation to contributing towards a game plan and his conduct off the field.

Having seen Gelling at Wigan and Warrington, I'd say he's neither under-rated or over-rated. He's very good on his day, just doesn't do it consistently enough to be top-drawer IMO. Having said that, what is considered top-drawer in 2022 is very different to that of 5-10 years ago. Would we see the champions racing to sign a Konrad Hurrell? Would a top 4 team be bolstering their starting spots with the likes of P Matautia, Cust et al?

Gelling is entertaining when at his best though. A bit like a Mamo or a Fonua. Not the best, but the crowd love them.

In short - yes they would.

Top teams over the years have seen plenty of unfancied players come in and be massive successes. Look at Bradford - Hape, Withers, Robbie Paul etc. None of them had more than 40 NRL caps. Saints had Fa'asavalu (a complete unknown) they signed Hargreaves etc.

We've had plenty of success in the modern times with guys like Carmont, Flower & and an aging Paul Deacon. Heck go back to the 'glory days' and we picked Iro up from relative obscurity and Henry Paul was drafted in after a season with Wakey.

Agree.

Win you the game one minute, lose it you the next with a brain fart.

His work rate can't be criticised though and he was one of the best at bringing the ball off our line.

Can't believe people would argue against the absolute legend that gave us this beauty being worthy of another wigan contract https://youtu.be/SVbW1fa_qxI

Can't believe people would argue against the absolute legend that gave us this beauty being worthy of another wigan contract https://youtu.be/SVbW1fa_qxI

The legend himself Sam Panapa, signed from Sheffield.

was a new zealand international though at that time

Dean Bell from Carlisle,hardly a big traansfer.

Neil Cowie from Rochdale

Dean Bell played for Leeds RL for a season after leaving Carlisle
He then played 2 season's at the Eastern Suburbs club (Roosters now)
He was also a rep player for the NZ Maoris and also the New Zealand test side before Wigan signed him?

Quote ="BoredWiganer"Can't believe people would argue against the absolute legend that gave us this beauty being worthy of another wigan contract https://youtu.be/SVbW1fa_qxI'" It was a clownish thing to do. But it was a clownish decision by the referee to award the penalty in the first place. Didn't he afterwards say that he'd forgotten it was Golden Point? Thereby indicating that he might not have awarded the penalty if he'd known ... thereby admitting that it wasn't actually a penalty.

Quote ="BoredWiganer"Can't believe people would argue against the absolute legend that gave us this beauty being worthy of another wigan contract https://youtu.be/SVbW1fa_qxI'" It was a clownish thing to do. But it was a clownish decision by the referee to award the penalty in the first place. Didn't he afterwards say that he'd forgotten it was Golden Point? Thereby indicating that he might not have awarded the penalty if he'd known ... thereby admitting that it wasn't actually a penalty.

Anyway, jumping to the end of the thread, I'm pretty pleased, and surprised, about Cust. He always looked a talent to me.

Pretty sure that was Wayne Bennett.

Martin Hall from Rochdale too?

Henderson Gill from Rochdale