Warrior to miss birth of child
Dallin Watene-zelezniak admits it’ll be tough, but he and his wife, Purdy, came to a mutual decision for him to miss the birth of their third child.
When the Warriors were told last week they would have to relocate to the Gold Coast for at least a month due to the latest coronavirus outbreak in Sydney, it put the Watene-zelezniaks in an awkward position, as Purdy is due to give birth in a few weeks.
The club left it to the couple to decide what they wanted to do and in the end, Dallin said they came to the conclusion that he should head to Queensland and the rest of the family remain in New South Wales.
‘‘It’s not ideal but we’re living in a world where things aren’t ideal at the moment,’’ Watenezelezniak said yesterday. ‘‘So my wife and I had a very long chat and made the decision.
‘‘As much as I’d love to be there with my wife, I’m lucky to be blessed with a beautiful wife who understands a lot and has been very understanding.’’
It will be at least a month until Watene-zelezniak is able to hold his new child, but the separation could last until the end of the season, unless Covid numbers come down in NSW. Because of that, it makes going to the World Cup in England at the end of the season, probably less appealing for Watene-zelezniak, even if he’s usually the Kiwis’ captain.
‘‘To be honest, I have so many things on my mind that I haven’t been able to think about the World Cup and the situation,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t know if anyone’s given a proper thought to it. As far as I can see, everything is changing every day, so who knows what can happen and if the World Cup even goes ahead?
‘‘To be honest, I can’t see it this year going ahead. It’s pretty crazy times and football should be the last thing on people’s minds.’’
Watene-zelezniak’s mid-season
move from the Bulldogs, took him from one club that’s having a tough year, to another.
Across both clubs, Watenezelezniak has played in 12 games this season and is still yet to be in a winning team.
‘‘It is what it is. It’s tough and you want to win week in, week out,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Addin Fonua-blake has been named as captain for Saturday’s game against the Rabbitohs on the Sunshine Coast.
Roger Tuivasa-sheck hasn’t recovered from the concussion picked up in last weekend’s loss to the Panthers, so Fonua-blake gets to lead the team for the first time.
In other changes Jazz Tevaga will play at hooker, in place of the injured Wayde Egan, Adam Pompey is at centre and Josh Curran comes in at hooker for Tohu Harris, who like Egan is out for the season.