Gelling up for next test

Anthony Gelling has already passed one test this pre-season as Warriors continue with their head start on preparing for the 2018 season.
Anthony Gelling in training at Wigans Orrell base this weekAnthony Gelling in training at Wigans Orrell base this week
Anthony Gelling in training at Wigans Orrell base this week

The Kiwi, who joined Wigan six years ago, was recently granted UK citizenship.

Having endeared himself to Warriors fans as their ‘man of the people’, Gelling’s status as an honorary Wiganer has never been in doubt.

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But he admits he struggled with his knowledge of the country has called home since late 2011.

“I was sitting in an office for six hours,” he explained. “The paperwork is a huge stack and having all the right stuff.

“I had to be here for five years, I’ve been here for six, and I had to do a living in the UK exam. It was harder than I thought!

“It goes into the history and I had to study for it.

“It’s all kinds of stuff – a lot of it was history and scientific inventions. I asked everyone here and they didn’t know!”

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As well as preparing for his citizenship exam, Gelling is part of the non-World Cup playing members of Shaun Wane’s squad to get a head start on pre-season.

And after four straight Grand Finals between 2013-16, the 27-year-old admits being back to work at this time of year is a strange feeling.

“It feels like we’ve been in a long time – we’ve been working real hard,” he said.

“It feels weird because it’s still November, and usually we’re starting quite late because we made the Grand Final and I wasn’t part of the World Cup.”

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Gelling will watch tomorrow’s semi-final between England and Tonga, though he joked his new citizenship won’t come into play when picking sides.

“I’ve been cheering on Tonga,” he smiled. “In seriousness, it’ll be a good game, I’m looking forward to it, I don’t know how it will go.

“It’s like a home game for Tonga. I was in Auckland for Samoa-Tonga, I was driving through four days before, and the roads were shut because the fans were partying!”