Anthony Gelling leaves Leigh to return home to New Zealand

Leigh have announced that Anthony Gelling has left the club so he can return home to New Zealand due to personal reasons.

The 30-year-old centre joined the Centurions in April and made six appearances for the club. He played his last game for Leigh in Sunday’s defeat at Wakefield.

Leigh owner Derek Beaumont said: “I would like to personally thank Anthony on behalf of everyone at the club for the fantastic job he has done. To have come to England under the circumstances he did and to have ripped in and applied himself in the manner evident in his performances speaks volumes for him.

“It was clearly a difficult time for him whilst he was here, yet he was outstanding in everything he did and extremely committed to the club, the coaching staff and his team-mates. It is a massive loss to us to see him head home but we fully understand his reasons and hope everything works out for him.

“The lads put everything into yesterday for his last game and whilst we didn’t get the win, we had a beer together to wish Gels fair well and show our appreciation of his efforts.

“Hoody (Liam Hood) spoke well on behalf of everyone and Gels reflected on his time at the club and the special relationship with Junior (Sa’u) whom he had looked up to as a youngster coming through and forged a good partnership with in a short time at the club. It was also interesting to hear him speak about Iain Thornley, Lewis Tierney and Joe Mellor from his time playing with them and what that had meant to him.

“I wish him a safe onward journey and every success. I look forward to seeing him play in the World Cup and would love to see him return to our club in the future.”

Gelling has made 157 club appearances for Wigan, New Zealand Warriors, Widnes, Warrington and Leigh. He has won six caps for the Cook Islands.

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