Official Watene-Zelezniak's Warriors move complete

https://7news.com.au/sport/rugby-league/watene-zelezniaks-warriors-move-complete-c-3169068

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak's move to the Warriors is complete after being farewelled with a haka by Canterbury teammates.

Watene-Zelezniak told Bulldogs players in the sheds after their 36-10 loss to Parramatta he had played his last game for the NRL club.

That prompted an impromptu haka in the sheds at Bankwest Stadium, led by Bulldogs welfare manager Luke Goodwin.

"Dal has been a big part of our squad for the past two years now," Bulldogs fullback Nick Meaney said.

"He spoke to us as a playing group, we are all pretty tight, he said his words and it's very emotional losing one of your close mates."

The Kiwi captain has signed a three-and-a-half year deal with the Warriors as part of a mid-season merry-go-round of NRL talent.

The Warriors had recently released winger Ken Maumalo to Wests Tigers, while Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will head to New Zealand rugby at the end of the season.

Watene-Zelezniak's exit also comes as part of a backline overhaul at the Bulldogs, freeing up further cap space with Josh Addo-Carr, Brent Naden and Matt Burton arriving in 2022.

 

[Captain Ibis]

Gotta hand it to Dal.. it's become clear that he wanted to stay but knew the club wanted to go in another direction... he could have dug his heels in as I mentioned in another thread but chose the selfless route.. he did what he could for us, but ultimately we just don't know how to create opportunities for our back line players at this stage.

 

[spiritofaslan]

My only concern in all this, is how much are we paying him to play for Warriors.

I wonder though, could it have been a case of DWZ going freed up money we needed to resign Meaney?

 

[Captain Ibis]

the word is that we'll be paying half for 1.5 years, but that is not confirmed..

Not sure about Meaney but you'd have to think now that they've given him the 1 (for now) he must be being considered for a new contract.

 

[spiritofaslan]

Whilst he was a bit shakey today (Meaney) the entire side was rattled by a series of poor calls.

 

[Captain Ibis]

I think a bit more size on him would help.. he has some good attributes but is generally pretty easy to handle for opponents..

While there may have been some poor calls, we can't just play going through the motions.. you watch Penrith starved of possession, once they get it, they go down field and put an attacking play on.. we go down field and hand it straight back to the opponent.. you can't win games without the ball

 

[BomberBurton]

Have a feeing we will regret doing this in the future.

 

[Captain Ibis]

at least once Napa is gone we will no longer have heavily overpaid players on our roster.. sucks we are paying for Dallin but feel like we could sign somebody who provides the same amount as he does with the money left over.. either that or put it towards a position that we need more

 

[spiritofaslan]

https://www.bulldogs.com.au/news/2021/06/21/players-farewell-dwz-with-haka/

Pretty awesome to see. DWZ clearly loved the club and was quite emotional about leaving us.