Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scores for the Warriors. Photo / Photosport
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scores for the Warriors. Photo / Photosport
Warriors’ winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak knows he is under the microscope.
The popular finisher admits he is down on confidence and form – after a couple of below par displays – but is determined to find a way back to his best. After a golden season last year, where hisefforts saw him named in the Dally M team of the year, the 28-year-old has struggled for consistency in 2024.
He hasn’t been alone, with the team playing in fits and starts, but his issues over the last fortnight have stood out, partly due to the nature of a winger’s position.
“It’s pretty hard to focus on what we did wrong when my game is not at its best either,” Watene-Zelezniak told the Big League Podcast, in the wake of last week’s 27-24 loss to the Gold Coast Titans.
“At the moment I am just thinking of how I can get better, if I can get certain things out of my game then it goes to the team doing better.”
“You could say [it’s] confidence but I don’t really know. For me it is just smarts, knowing the time and place for things. I’m in a position where you get something wrong it can put the team under a lot of pressure.”
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak of the Warriors. Photo / Photosport
That was shown in the Anzac Day game, when a poor defensive read – as he came in way too early – led to the Titans’ first try, opening the door for their first half revival, after the Warriors had dominated the opening stanza.
He was caught in two minds again later, after Rocco Berry had missed his centre, for another Gold Coast score, then tried an overly ambitious offload that gifted possession ahead of the Titans’ fifth try.
A candid Watene-Zelezniak was understandably downcast.
“It’s not good when you have built so much pressure and then you release that valve,” he said. “Defensively they got a few late offloads on me, it’s just awareness and those kind of things that are usually there for me.
“I definitely want to get up for [this] week and make sure I don’t remember [last] week.”
Watene-Zelezniak was one of the stories of last season. He grabbed 24 tries in just 20 games, eclipsing both the club record (23) and his previous season best of 12 (set in 2016 at Penrith).
Just as importantly, he was a yardage dynamo, averaging 153m a game – with some game-changing charges – and 80 tackle busts, offering vital momentum from the back field.
This year has been sweet and sour. After a mixed night against the Sharks to start this season – with strong carries offset by a few errors – he was one of the best on the field against the Storm and Raiders and solid against both the Knights and Sea Eagles.
With lingering hamstring and neck issues, he was among numerous poor performers in the heavy loss to the Dragons, before his personal nadir against the Titans.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scores against the Dragons. Photo / Photosport
“I’ve got to get back to my job, knowing what I do well and sticking to that, will go a long way to being better,” Watene-Zelezniak said.
He enjoyed a three-day break with the family post the Titans match, trying to put on a “happy face” for his wife and children.
“It’s quite easy when you have got kids but it’s the time when you are on your own and the kids are either relaxing or sleeping and then you start thinking about the game and those kinds of things.”
“I don’t like to harp on too much about last year because it is a new year but it definitely was a confidence booster. Sometimes it is good to look back and see what you have done [though] it doesn’t really matter if you are not producing now.“
Watene-Zelezniak isn’t the only player with faltering output but coach Andrew Webster has resisted making any changes for Sunday’s match in Newcastle (4pm). The injury toll is a factor – with less room to move – though he does have options in the backline.
But Webster will give players time to show their best, rather than the more complicated route of rediscovering form via a demotion to reserve grade. He said there are several key factors.
“It always helps visually to show them how well they have done it for so long in the past [and] how it looks,” Webster told the Herald. “Drills to get them back feeling confident, give them technique, give them an understanding of ‘if you continue to do this, it will come’.
“And be honest. You have to be honest for them to get their confidence back. If you don’t give it to them in black and white sometimes they don’t have the understanding and clarity. We have stayed really consistent around that. They want to get better and they want to work at it.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. He has also reported on the Warriors and NRL for more than a decade.
