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Watene-Zelezniak to miss Test debut for second time

27th April, 2015
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Rising Penrith star Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is set to be denied a New Zealand rugby league Test debut for a second time in six months.

Less than a day after being selected in the Kiwis team to play Australia in Brisbane on Friday, 19-year-old winger Watene-Zelezniak was charged by the NRL match review committee with a grade one dangerous throw on Cronulla’s Wade Graham by the NRL’s match review committee.

Even with an early guilty plea, Watene-Zelezniak faces a one-match suspension due to a loading points from previous offences, meaning he’d have to beat the charge at a judiciary hearing to make his first Test appearance.

However, the early indications from Penrith are that the club will accept the one-match sanction.

Watene-Zelezniak has until midday on Tuesday to enter a plea, and will face the judiciary on Wednesday night if he opts to fight the charge.

The Panthers say the decision will be theirs alone and made without the input of the Kiwis, who are keen to finally unleash the exciting speed merchant on Tim Sheens’ Kangaroos.

Watene-Zelezniak was set for an international debut in last year’s Four Nations series opener against Australia but fractured a foot in a freak accident on a Gold Coast beach and missed the whole series.

The Kiwis have called in St George Illawarra veteran Jason Nightingale to their squad and he’ll play should Watene-Zelezniak miss out.

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Speaking after Sunday’s clash with Cronulla and before his Test selection, Watene-Zelezniak said it would “mean everything” to make his Test debut, particularly since his great grandfather captained New Zealand in the 1930s.

“It’d be real special, especially for my family,” he said.

“I think they’d be more excited than me.

“I haven’t seen his games, but people tell me that he was an awesome player and an awesome bloke.

“Obviously last year I got injured when I got named. I want to pick up where I didn’t start.

“It’d be a dream come true.”

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