Oliver Patrick Gildart (born 6 August 1996) is an English professional

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 11 ...

footballer who plays as a for the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

in the Australian

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 ...

. He has previously played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

and

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional 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 fifteen Ne ...

in the NRL, 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 Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...

in the Super League, and spent time on loan from

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

in the

Kingstone Press 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, a ...

and the

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

in the Super League. Gildart has also played for and at international level. Gildart was the winner of the 2017 Super League Young Player Of The Year. He won the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and the

2018 Super League Grand Final The 2018 Super League Grand Final was the 21st official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXIII. It was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 13 October 2018, kick off 18.00. The final was contested by Warrington Wolves ...

with Wigan.

Early life

Gildart was born in

Hindley, Greater Manchester Hindley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Lying east of Wigan it covers an area of . Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Hindley (which includes Hindley Green) borders th ...

, England to parents Claire and

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

, a former professional

footballer for Wigan, Wakefield, and Oldham. He is of Italian descent through his mother, and is eligible to represent the Italian national team.

Club career

2015

A product of Wigan's junior system, Gildart made his Super League début on loan for

in 2015, making a total of three appearances before returning to his parent club. He made his début for Wigan in the Super 8s match against

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 ...

on 21 August 2015, scoring a try. He then kept his place in the Wigan team for the remainder of the 2015 season, including an appearance in the

2015 Super League Grand Final The 2015 Super League Grand Final was the 18th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XX season. It was held on Saturday 10 October 2015, at Old Trafford, Manchester, with a 6pm kick-off time. Th ...

at Old Trafford in only his tenth career match.

2016

Gildart continued to show promise throughout the course of the 2016 season. One of the signature tries of the year was scored by him in an away match in Perpignan as he straightened up the line and seared his way to the try-line after a flowing length-of-the-field attack by Wigan. He became a fixture in the centres for Wigan. Gildart scored a try in the

2016 Super League Grand Final The 2016 Super League Grand Final was the 19th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XXI season. It was held on Saturday 8 October 2016, at Old Trafford, Manchester, with a 6pm kick-off time. Bri ...

against the

which brought Wigan level at 6–6 before they'd go on to win 12–6 at Old Trafford.

2017

He was also part of the Wigan team who defeated NRL champions, 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 ...

22–6 to win 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 ...

, which ensured Oliver would join father Ian (who was an interchange in the 1987 and 1991 wins) as a World Club Challenge medal winner. Oliver also scored a try in that game. After starting the season is great form he broke three vertebrae in his back following a Brett Ferres 'crusher' tackle. Gildart was ruled out for three months. He returned with a try against the Leigh Centurions on 8 June. He scored a few weeks later against the

followed by a brace against

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. In the Challenge Cup semi-final against

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

he scored another brace and went on to score another try in the

2017 Challenge Cup Final The 2017 Challenge Cup Final was the 116th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2017 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 26 August 2017, kick off 15:00. The final was contested by Hull F.C. and Wigan Warriors. Th ...

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 ...

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 original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. Against traditional rivals St. Helens he scored the opening try followed by a slick move within the first two minutes. Just a few moments later following a

Ben Barba Ben Barba (born 13 June 1989) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for St Helens in the Super League. He primarily played as a or . He was banned by both the NRL and Rugby Football League in February ...

mistake he raced 40 yards to complete his brace.

2018

He played in the

victory over the

at Old Trafford.

2019

Gildart played 32 games for Wigan in 2019 including their shock semi-final loss against Salford.

2020

Gildart played in the

2020 Super League Grand Final The 2020 Super League Grand Final was the 23rd official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXV. The game was won 8–4 by St Helens over their local rivals Wigan Warriors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first S ...

which Wigan lost 8–4 against St Helens.

2021

On 31 May, Gildart signed a two-year deal to join NRL side, the

. In round 10 of the

2021 Super League season Super League XXVI, known as the Betfred Super League XXVI for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the Super League and 127th season of rugby league in Great Britain. The 2021 season was originally scheduled to begin on 11 March 2021, how ...

, Gildart scored two tries for Wigan in a 18–8 defeat against

Hull Kingston Rovers 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 Challen ...

2022

In round 1 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

, Gildart made his club debut for the

in their 26–16 loss against

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. In round 9, he scored his first try in the NRL during a 36–22 loss against Manly at

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by th ...

. On 31 July, Gildart joined the

on a loan deal which would go to the end of the

. He scored five tries on his debut for North Sydney in their 60-4

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

win over

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. On 28 October, Gildart was released early from his contract with a year left from the West Tigers. A one-year contract with the

for 2023 was subsequently confirmed.https://www.sportingnews.com/au/rugby-league/news/dolphins-confirm-signing-oliver-gildart-after-he-was-released-wests-tigers/js1etyy0sbxqy3dbxrna5aac

International career

In July 2018 he was selected in the

England Knights England Knights (previously known as Emerging England and England A) is considered the feeder team for the England rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an i ...

Performance squad. He was selected in squad for the 2019 Great Britain Lions tour of the Southern Hemisphere. He made his

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

test debut in the defeat by Tonga.

Career Stats

References

External links

Wigan Warriors profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gildart, Oliver 1996 births Living people England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English people of Italian descent Great Britain national rugby league team players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players People from Hindley, Greater Manchester Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Wigan Salford Red Devils players Wigan Warriors players Workington Town players Wests Tigers players Western Suburbs Magpies NSW Cup players Sydney Roosters players