Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rug ...

Betfred Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

Betfred Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Howick Hornets The Howick Hornets are a rugby league club based in Howick, New Zealand. The premier team competes in Auckland Rugby League's senior competitions. The club currently competes in the top division, the Fox Memorial Trophy. The club has a rivalry wi ...

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

Samuel Brunton Samuel Brunton (born 20 February 1990) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league player. He played as a or . He is a Cook Islands international. Early years Brunton was a Howick Hornets and Mangere East Hawks junior. In 2011 Gelling returned to New Zealand, joining

Auckland Vulcans The Auckland Vulcans were an Auckland based rugby league club that participated in the New South Wales Cup. They were administered by the Rugby League Development Foundation. The team was selected from the Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial C ...

and his old club,

Howick Hornets The Howick Hornets are a rugby league club based in Howick, New Zealand. The premier team competes in Auckland Rugby League's senior competitions. The club currently competes in the top division, the Fox Memorial Trophy. The club has a rivalry wi ...

. Hornets won the 2011 Fox Memorial competition that year. He was named in the

Counties Manukau Stingrays The Counties Manukau rugby league team represents the Counties Manukau zone in the Albert Baskerville Trophy. Previously, teams representing Southern Auckland and the Franklin district of New Zealand have competed in the Lion Red Cup and Barterca ...

side in the 2011 National Competition.

Club career

At the end of the 2011 season, Gelling signed a contract to play for

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. Gelling was allocated the number 24 jersey on arrival to Wigan Warriors' pre-2012 season training in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

.

2014

He played in the

2014 Super League Grand Final The 2014 Super League Grand Final was the 17th official Grand Final and conclusive and deciding match of Super League XIX. It was held on Saturday 11 October 2014, at Old Trafford, Manchester with a 6pm kick-off time. The game was played between ...

defeat by St Helens at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

.

2015

Gelling has proven himself to be somewhat of a cult hero at Wigan with his eccentric behaviours which include charging down a penalty goal attempt from

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

Corey Parker in golden point extra time of the World Club Series clash between the Broncos and Wigan on 21 February 2015 and riding to and from Wigan's Good Friday victory over local rivals St. Helens on 3 April 2015 on a BMX that he bought from Cash Converters for £100. On 16 June 2015 Gelling signed a new four-year contract with the Wigan club.

2016

In 2016 he refused to apologise for saying that some of the refereeing decisions "pissed me off" in a post match interview on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, instead declaring "I speak my mind. I like to think of myself as a man of the people". A nickname which has since stuck. He played in the 2016 Super League Grand Final victory over the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

.

2017

Gelling was part of the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

team that beat the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...

in the

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...

. He scored his first tries of the season against the Leigh Centurions with a brace on 3 March. He scored against Warrington and the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

in the next two fixtures. He didn't score again until the match against Huddersfield on 11 August before finishing the season with a try against rivals St. Helens and a brace against

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

. He played in the 2017 Challenge Cup Final defeat by

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

.

2018

He reported back to Wigan for preseason in preparation for the 2018

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

season but not long after he asked for a release from his contract after his girlfriend was involved in a car crash. He returned home to New Zealand to be closer to his family and signed a one-year contract with the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

.

2020

Gelling returned to play Super League, signing a two-year deal with Warrington after his contract in New Zealand expired. On 30 November 2020, it was announced that Gelling would be leaving Warrington at the end of the 2020 season, by mutual consent.

2021

On 13 April 2021, it was confirmed that Gelling had signed for Leigh, for the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

season. On 17 May 2021, he scored a try during his sides 16-30 loss at home to Wigan. He would then go on to play two more games, in which his final game would be against

Hull KR Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

on 30 May. On 18 May 2021, he was found not guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on his former partner, after a jury took just over four hours to deliberate, before acquitting him of the charge following a three-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court. On 7 June 2021, it was confirmed that Gelling had left the club, and returned home to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

due to personal reasons.

International career

Gelling was part of the Cook Islands team that made the 2009 Pacific Cup Final. Gelling played for 'the Kukis' in their 28–24 test-match victory over

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, scoring one try in the match. Gelling represented the Cooks in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup playing 2 out of the 3 matches the Cooks played at the Tournament. On 17 October 2015, Gelling played for the Cook Islands in their Asia-Pacific Qualifier match against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. At age 31 , and with still plenty to give he played for the Cook Islands in the mid year pacific test against Samoa in which the Cook Islands lost 42-12 with Gelling trying hard to lift his team with spirited runs in the defeat. This resulted in coach

Tony Iro Tony Roy Iro (born 30 May 1967) is a professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Cook Islands national rugby league team and a former professional rugby league footballer. He is a former New Zealand international representativ ...

selecting him to be part of the Cook Islands team for the Delayed 2021 Rugby League World Cup. Gelling represened the Cook Islands in two of their three group stage matches as they finished winless at the tournament. Following their second group stage match against Papua New Guinea, Gelling announced his retirement from rugby league for a second time. This followed on from Gelling conducting a bizarre half-time interview with BBC side line reporter Jenna Brooks where instead of talking about the game Gelling spoke about tourism on the Cook Islands, he went on to say "It's raining, we're not really used to it. We're used to the sunshine an palm trees. If you're ever looking for a holiday, wedding, honeymoon, stag do, check out the Cook Islands, it's like a postcard. There's a law out there you can't have any buildings taller than the tallest coconut tree".

References

External links

New Zealand Warriors profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelling, Anthony 1990 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Cook Islands national rugby league team players Counties Manukau rugby league team players Expatriate rugby league players in Australia Howick Hornets players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league wingers Warrington Wolves players Widnes Vikings players Wigan Warriors players Leigh Centurions players

Background

Early career

Club career

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2020

2021

International career

References

External links