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.

You are quite right about contracts DaveO. As many have said in the past, it's a pity we are not more like Leeds.

indeed. one thing for sure is that Wigan players over the last few seasons have had some cracking agents working for them!

i'd even go as far to say that there is clearly something amiss at wigan, players leaving left right and centre, the coach announcing his departure mid-season too, it can't all be just a mere coincidence. I hope it is, but I fear we are in for some repercussions soon - hope its not Salary Cap related. i've no idea it is, i just have a bad feeling and I've been proclaiming so on here for a while much to everyone's amusement!

but a club with such a high turnover can't seriously be doing that badly with their finances. back to Gells, I wish him well, but like we have agreed, its not just a matter of signing a returning player here. the lad has done us out of a transfer fee basically as will go on a free surely now? I don't think i'd like to have him back as a result. if the story is true that we had first refusal, then I feel we have made the right choice. i'm sure he'll bag a try or two against us!

Girlfriend was pretty beaten up from the crash, was far more than bruising, he posted the pics of her for all to see on his twitter account. Needless to say of course he wanted to be close to her during this time.
While over there he realised how much he missed home, the life etc. Wanted to be back home; which is more than understandable, his time at Wigan wasn't short, he was over with us for a good spell. Since then he's landed no more of a supporting role at NZW, wouldn't be surprised if he was told he wasn't needed for next season.
So in an attempt to have a career in RL, he probably took what he could to keep playing and earning; a contract with Widnes.
I don't see anything funny here or anything untoward.

Agreed. Also no doubt we would’ve re-signed him if we wanted him. I’m sure his agent would’ve touted him to all SL and NRL clubs.

this is my point, if he wanted to be "back home" with his GF last year and then he later extended it to be for family reasons, why is his home now back in the UK?!!

I agree he hasn't managed to get a club over there in his time there, but he left us for family reasons and now those family reasons don't appear to be an issue again. he got out of a contract, basically which we all know is happening too often now - as a result wigan have lost a player and earned no money from it.

as has been mentioned above, if he just wanted compassionate leave to attend to the recovery of his GF then wigan would and should have permitted it without him having to leave us, surely?!

you may not see anything untoward, but I see another injustice on the part of the wigan club at the hands of players, whether intentional or not.

I can only guess he's back in the UK as it's the only place he can land a contract to continue playing RL.
For all I know he could have split with his gf or decided he misses England, who knows!
Additionally, how do we not know Wigan was his first point of contact? Maybe we turned him down.

All ifs and buts and maybes, but realistically, do you honestly think Gelling was pulling a fast one? Even more so using his beaten up gf as an excuse? Come on.

I think he was more hones than he had to be showing images of her in the hospital, nothing dodgy, just a sequence of events.

at no point did I profess to suggest gelling was up to no good by getting out of his contract. my point is, Wigan have not benefitted from it in any way - again - my point refers to the numpty who is controlling all of this at Wigan. my point refers to what the bloody hell is going on, and has been for the last year or two!

we didn't get compensation from gells when he left and we now won't get a transfer fee for him permanently signing for someone else. had he stayed with us and moved clubs, we more than likely would have assuming he was on contract of course.

fair play to him, i have absolutely nothing against him. I loved him at wigan, he was a right character and had a good game in him when he wanted it. but yet again, wigan are the loser. not because we haven't re-signed him, but because its another player who has used the good nature of the club for their benefit (quite rightly of course) but is come back to bite us on the cherry and whites.

Gelling was one of the best right centres in the country. We resigned a left centre to play there and he wasnt very good at his original role so that hasnt gone well. If I was IL my performance review with KR would be very uncomfortable indeed to say the least.

This was his tweet on 28th Nov 2017 "Currently heading back to NZ,my gf been in a car accident,she's fine but nursing some bad injuries atm.I'll be back when the times right."

Which happened not long after this on 15th "Today is the day I become a UK resident. Currently walking to home office listening to the sex pistols to get me in the zone #GSTQ""

But whatever we can take from "shes fine" and "nursing some bad injuries" he certainly gave the impression he trip to NZ was temporary and especially given he's now back it was never going to be a reason for a permanent move. And getting UK residency is not the act of someone pining for NZ Fjords.

When he officially left Wigan this had changed and he said this "“It’s always tough to move on. I’ve given up my 20’s to represent the club and had an absolute blast in doing so. My family has always stood by me during my time away and the time has come to put them first." and Rads said he believed his reasons for leaving were genuine and if his head was elsewhere they would not stand in his way and yet now he's back here. His reasons for leaving ring a bit hollow now.

I am also sure he does want a job but he'd already got one at Wigan. His GF was obviously going to recover so that was no reason to make a permanent move back and clearly the pull of family was never that great either given he's back here now.

He may well have never had any ulterior motives but this looks very poor to me and it doesn't alter the fact he was a contracted Wigan player in November and he's now a Widnes player in July and Wigan have no fee to show for investing in the player.

It states here www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2018- ... part-wigan Should Gelling return to the UK Wigan have first option to sign him. So for whatever reason we didn’t want him or couldn’t fit him under the cap.

It states here www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2018- ... part-wigan Should Gelling return to the UK Wigan have first option to sign him. So for whatever reason we didn’t want him or couldn’t fit him under the cap.

Hopefully, he'll end up playing in the Championship for them.