One is the son of a rural prison officer. The other works in the slammer himself.
Both brought a reminder last night that rugby league consistently delivers us stories that border on pure fantasy.
Standing on opposing sides, Cody Walker and Malakai Watene-Zelezniak played starring roles in an absorbing 21-20 win by the South Sydney Rabbitohs over the Penrith Panthers.
It was a game where the parable of ‘never giving up faith’ rang loud and clear.
For anyone tempted to say the NRL has become a predictable affair, you needed to be watching.
Hop in a time machine and imagine a scenario 25-and-a-half years ago when Panthers debutant Watene-Zelezniak was newly born, and Rabbitohs strike weapon Walker was just one year old.
If you are the kind of person who doesn’t mind placing a wager, imagine thumping some hard earned cash down on the following multibet in 1991:
For the first leg, let’s place a bet that the New Zealand-born Watene-Zelezniak, of Maori, Tongan and Polish extraction, would find his way to Australia, where he’d grow up in Western Sydney.
Ok, not too far of a stretch. But now imagine he has made it past his 25th birthday, he’s already given up rugby league once before, one of his brothers has represented New Zealand and another has played for Poland.
He’s so far out of consideration, the club he is playing for on a part-time basis – Penrith – doesn’t even have a photo of him in their team kit.
But then the already injury-depleted Panthers elect to axe three of their outside backs for staying out too late on the booze.
Watene-Zelezniak gets handed a berth, a career revival, standing right alongside one of his brothers, Dallin.
Presumably he also gets the day off from patrolling the cells at work.
Let’s take that multibet up another notch by predicting that, with one of his first touches in first grade, he draws two defenders and manages a deftly-delayed pass that puts Dallin over for a superb try – a life-defining moment for both brothers
It’s enough to make you shed a tear.
And by all accounts Watene-Zelezniak did just that at least twice during the preceding days.
But we’re not finished yet.
Imagine wagering that on the rival team would be this bloke Walker who can, believe it or not, better that yarn.
Born in Nowra, raised in Casino, rising to prominence with the Easts Tigers in Brisbane.
He doesn’t debut in the NRL until he is 26, practically pensioner time.
Two previous chances at the big time were thwarted at the final moment by shoulder and hamstring injuries.
But when he rocks up to Penrith Stadium on this night in 2017, he will be one of the competition’s leaders in try assists and line breaks.
He will turn the game completely on its head with a try before halftime, set up another try just after the break, then take a big run just seconds before teammate Adam Reynolds kicks the winning field goal.
Yeah, I’m guessing you’d get pretty juicy odds for all that playing out.
Either that, or you’d receive a slap across the face and get told to return to reality.
If you wanted to ramp up the disbelief factor even more, you could speculate that one of Walker’s teammates would be a child actor who starred in an advert to promote the NRL eight years earlier (Alex Johnston).
Or you could bet that the club they’d feature for would have been already been expelled from the competition, but readmitted after tens of thousands marched through Sydney’s streets in protest.
Nah, now don’t be daft. Rugby league’s too predictable for that.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Keep up the good work Mathew,all the publicity you are giving to the RLWC is appreciated.. Publicity money just can't buy. Cheque's in the mail. Of course you had a giggle,I had a giggle too with your rl fetish. Because Mathew you have been proven wrong many times, and your many IDs are used to hide your ignorance about rl. All the examples I have provided are based on fact, not on what i thin or hope for.A world away from your misinformation and porkies.
Mathew Stealer
Guest
BARNET fc Crosscode. Thats a bit disrespectful for a club that has more of a following in the 4th division than 80 % of Super League clubs. Now i read that NY Times article and had a giggle to. Another English journo trying to explain to Americans what Rugby League is even though USA have a team in the "World" Cup. Now how come everything i say is wrong and everything you come up with is right?? Thanks Crosscoder
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Once again Mathew a puerile non response, offering nothing new.Have you nothing better to do with your life? Wales and England Govts don't mind spending money on developing their squads for the RLWC. Ditto PNG. The Toronto rl team got plenty of words about it in the NY Times circa April 7th. I suggest all your IDs concentrate on your 4th division club Bartlett pears whatever,wherever it may reside.And do the land of fish and chips and the occasional use of soap, proud.
Mathew Stealer
Guest
Here we go Crosscoder, the Welsh government now! The whole Welsh community will be having sleepless nights during the tournament staying up to watch those Englishmen doing Wales proud! Now Justin what other ID names have i got? Please tell?
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Mathew ,The Welsh Govt knows the RLWC is on, thanks to Sport Wales who have allocated funding support from their performance budgets to the National Governing Body WRL for the first time in their history. Sorry mate once again you get it wrong.Always nice to keep you posted.
Justin Kearney
Guest
Sorry i forgot that this id of yours likes state of origin. Its all your other ids that dont. Its a bit hard to keep up.
Justin Kearney
Guest
Interesting comment matthew given the drivel you write about state of origin under your other multiple ids. Sadly for you both series will be huge successes. Should keep you busy writing endless posts criticising both so that's nice for you as it seems to make you ever so happy.
Mathew Stealer
Guest
Justin State of Origin is great! All those blokes bleeding for their States its fantastic. Atleast those blokes actually represent areas that know what Rugby League is. The World Cup on the otherhand, well i wouldn't know it will be on unless you 2 write about it on here because nobody else cares
Justin Kearney
Guest
The poor bloke has an obsessive hatred of the game. I can only imagine how badly he is going to cope with state of origin and then the world cup. Probably time he changed his id again. He needs a refresh!
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Seeing you're allowed to get away with it, Mathew your tiresome ignorant anti rl comments are just as predictable.
Farqueue
Guest
So who is Walker eligible for....Under the new rules it would have to be nsw ? Really dangerous player...As good as anyone at the moment.
steveng
Roar Rookie
With Tyrell Fuimaono (he is a centre) and a replacement would have stopped the Cleary barrage of bombs to Burns's wing. A coach should always try and change the pattern of a game with a replacement, especially when one aspect of the panthers game (Cleary bombs) had so much affect on the game. Burns was going from bad to worst with every bomb that Cleary put up and we went very close to loosing this game because of him.
Mathew Stealer
Guest
Na definitely not! As if 1,2,3,4,5 bomb repeat is predictable! Instead of blaming Vichy, media and every other sport maybe this could be a reason why Rugby League is such a tiny irrelevant sport
3_Hats SSTID 2014
Roar Rookie
Replace him, with WHOM?
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
I think he maybe the Eels or another team who melbourne eliminated might've won it.
Agent11
Guest
Melbourne won it legitimately in 2012 though.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Souths should have replaced him, he nearly cost us the game and things were not getting any better with Brandon Burns as the game progressed. For some strange reason he wanted to kick the ball at some of the bombs that Cleary put up and that was the reason why the Panthers scored one of their tries. I would advise Madge that Brandon needs some bomb catching practice and that is 24/7 if he wants a career in the NRL. Souths were very lucky in the last 10min to win this game.
Jacko
Guest
So if you win the comp this year I predict you wont win it again for a while..... SOOOOOOOOOOOOO predictable
Albo
Guest
What is predicable is that one of your highlighted players is a star first grader going from strength to strength and the other will unlikely get another run in the top grade in the foreseeable future !
Flea
Guest
In the past 16 seasons the NRL has had 12 different winners and possibly a 13th had Melbourne not breached the salary cap. What other competition comes close?