If nothing else, Anthony Gelling gave a sell-out crowd a World Club Series memory they’ll likely hold onto for the rest of their lives.
The madcap Wigan centre sent a furious crowd into rapturous applause, and even managed to provide a rugby league first for Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett, when he farcically charged down a Corey Parker penalty goal attempt during golden-point extra time.
Parker, who was kicking from in front, was left stunned by the actions of the Cook Island international who was promptly sent to the sin-bin by referee Phil Bentham.
Without any further distractions, Parker calmly slotted the match-winning goal to secure a 14-12 victory for the Broncos.
But not before the 24-year-old Gelling had given himself a round of applause as he left the field, prompting the crowd to produce a deafening roar of approval.
“He’s a weirdo,” Wigan coach Shaun Wane dead-panned about Gelling.
“If there’s one person going to do that, it’s going to be him.
“I thought he was good. He showed to me he wanted to win.
“But I knew he was going to do something stupid like that.”
Bennett has won seven premierships and coached more than 700 first-grade games in a career spanning 30 years, but even he’d never seen anything like what took place at DW Stadium on Saturday night (Sunday morning, AEDT).
“I was down there (on the sideline) but I just couldn’t work out what had happened,” Bennett said.
“I’ve certainly never seen a charge-down (from a penalty kick) before in our game.
“I liked that he gave himself a clap coming off. I thought that was the best part of it.
“‘I’ve made a goose of myself, so I’ll try to get out of it as best as I can.’
“(The crowd loved it) when he started clapping. That’s what he did, he brought the crowd into it.
“It was just part of the occasion tonight. There was a bit of everything.
“It was good footy. I enjoyed it. I thought it was great for the game.
“It was a great atmosphere tonight.
“They’ll remember this game for the rest of their lives for the last incident if nothing else.”
