Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, a 28-year-old One New Zealand Warriors winger from Hamilton, has won the Dally M Winger of the Year award to complete an outstanding 2023 National Rugby League (NRL) season.
Just a few days after breaking the Warriors’ record for the most tries in a season, the former College Old Boys Rugby League junior representative got the honor.
He attempted numerous times, including his signature aerial acrobatics, and crossed the chalk 24 times in 2023.
“With his three tries during the NRL finals, [Watene-Zelezniak] became the most prolific single-season try-scorer in Warriors’ history, passing two club legends,” wrote the One NZ Warriors on Instagram.
The previous record of 23 was set by Francis Meli in 2003 and equalled by David Fusitu’a in 2018.
Watene-Zelezniak is of Māori, Tongan and Polish descent and spent his early years in Ngāruawāhia.
He started playing league at age 4 for COB, a club that his grandfather Tuhoe Watene and great-uncle Jim founded.
When he was 5, his family moved to Sydney, a place the family already had connections having lived there before his birth.
Even now with almost 200 NRL games across the Panthers, Bulldogs and Warriors, his ties to Waikato Rugby League are still strong and he has family in the region.
His uncle Myles Watene is the chairman for Waikato Rugby League.
“He’s always a Waikato Rugby League boy at heart. There are many that have come from Waikato that played on that centre stage that we’re proud of as well. Within the WRL community, we’re a family. We support all the players that make it to the next level,” Watene said.
“In our immediate family, all our kids are expected to do well in whatever they do. When [Dallin] was a young kid he was so resilient in whatever he did – he was determined to get things done.
“We expect our kids to perform on whatever stage it is, to the best they possibly can. Whatever that best is, we’re happy with it and Dallin’s achieved up and above the expectations. As a family, that’s just a bonus for us.”
What Watene-Zelezniak has accomplished is a great achievement for his family as a whole.
“[He’s a] wonderful kid, a great family man. Our family motto has always been, that families will be together forever. We’re very family orientated. It may take parents to raise kids but it takes a village to raise champions,” Watene said.
“A lot of people don’t realise but his wife Purdy is very strong. I just want to recognise that partners play a big role in these boys being successful.”
This also backed up the COB motto – “strength in unity”.
Rugby league has a big history in Watene-Zelezniak’s family and he was continuing to add to that legacy, while older brother Malakai Watene-Zelezniak has also played in the NRL.
Their great-grandfather Thames-born Puti Tipene “Steve” Watene (1911-1967) was the first Māori to captain the Kiwis, a feat that Watene-Zelezniak also achieved at just 23.
Steve’s father-in-law was Kāwhia-born Puhipi James “Jim” Rukutai (c.1877-1940), a New Zealand rugby league player and coach who also played a big part in Māori rugby league.
Rukutai was an early Auckland Rugby League player and the youngest-ever New Zealand coach at just 33 – this is who the Rukutai Shield in ARL is named after.
The shield is awarded to the premier one minor or premiership champions at the end of the regular season.
The Māori rangatira statue at the summit of Auckland’s Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill is also modelled on Rukutai.
