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Malakai Watene-Zelezniak
Malakai Watene-Zelezniak (born 27 August 1991) is a former rugby league footballer who played on the wing. He played for the Penrith Panthers in two separate spells, and the Wests Tigers in the NRL. Watene-Zelezniak briefly played rugby union for the New South Wales Country Eagles in the National Rugby Championship. BackgroundWatene-Zelezniak was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and is of Māori, Tongan and Polish descent. At 2 years old he moved to Hamilton, New Zealand, and returned to Sydney at 9 years old.[citation needed] He played his junior rugby league for the St Clair Comets. He attended St. Dominic’s College, Penrith. Watene-Zelezniak is the great-grandson of former New Zealand rugby league captain and politician, Steve Watene.[2] Watene-Zelezniak is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2] Malakai is the older brother of the New Zealand Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak. Playing careerEarly careerWatene-Zelezniak played for the Penrith Panthers in the NYC from 2009 to 2011.[3] In 2014, he joined the New South Wales Country Eagles of the National Rugby Championship.[4] He played in four of their matches.[5][6][7][8] Watene-Zelezniak returned to the Panthers during the 2015 season to play in their New South Wales Cup team.[9] On 25 September 2015, Watene-Zelezniak was named in Tonga's preliminary train-on squad ahead of their 2017 World Cup qualifying match against the Cook Islands.[10] He was selected to represent the New Zealand Māori in their match against the New Zealand Residents on 15 October 2016.[11] 2017In February, Watene-Zelezniak was a member of the Panthers' Auckland Nines squad.[12] He made his NRL debut for the Panthers against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on 7 April. His selection came after Matt Moylan, Waqa Blake and Peta Hiku were dropped for disciplinary reasons.[13] He played on the wing outside his younger brother Dallin, who said. "I had a feeling at the start of the week he was going to make his debut because they asked me to play left centre. Mal was training well, so I went over to him and said, 'I think you’re playing this week'."[14] On 29 April, it was announced that Watene-Zelezniak had been released from the Panthers to immediately join the Wests Tigers until the end of 2018.[15] He made his club debut for the Tigers on 12 May, also against the Rabbitohs.[16] Coach Ivan Cleary, who was head coach when Watene-Zelezniak played in the lower grades at the Panthers and brought him to Wests Tigers, said "When we signed him, I never thought he'd play so much. He's really improved. He's improved on some fundamental stuff and each game he's improved."[17] 2018Watene-Zelezniak made 12 appearances for Wests Tigers and scored 3 tries as the club missed out on the finals by finishing 9th on the table. He then departed the club at the end of the season to re-join Penrith on a two-year deal.[18][19] 2019Watene-Zelezniak only made four appearances for Penrith in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished a disappointing 10th on the table and missed out on the finals.[20] 2020Watene-Zelezniak played only one game for Penrith in the 2020 NRL season. In October, he was released by the club.[21] On 21 January 2021, Watene-Zelezniak announced his immediate retirement from rugby league due to acute kidney failure and associated complications.[22] 2023On 23 Oct 2023 it was reported that he had made his debut for Poland 40-8 win over North Macedonia in Sydney[23] Personal lifeMalakai Watene-Zelezniak with his brother started a watch Company W Zelezniak.[24][25] References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malakai Watene-Zelezniak. |
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