Gelling: We had to send a message out

Their 25-0 win last night ended Saints’ seven-game winning run - which included a 21-4 victory at the DW - and prevented them from leapfrogging the Warriors into third.

Gelling played a key role in the triumph, scoring three tries against St Helens in an all-action display.

And he said: “They came here and beat us in our own backyard not long ago, and that was hard.

“We had to send a message to the other teams, and to all the people who have been getting on our backs about our form.

“There’s been a lot of pressure on the players and Waney, but we’ve stuck together.

“To keep Saints out for as long as we did and get that win, it was an awesome feeling.”

His second try, converted by Matty Smith, made it 12-0 at half-time and Gelling ‘hushed’ the Saints fans before touching down.

“They were making so much noise, I couldn’t hear the calls so I was just asking them to be quiet,” he said.

He sealed his hat-trick with a long-range intercept in the second-half before George Williams added Wigan’s fourth try in a scrappy, error-littered game.

“I’ve never scored a runaway try before, It was my night I guess,” added Gelling, sporting braids to keep his hair - which he is not cutting until the end of the season - under control.

“We felt good, the energy was good, the way we defended on the back of making errors, we stuck together.”