Bulldogs vs Eels: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak opens up on spine fracture fears
Canterbury’s Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has revealed the moment he feared he had suffered a spine fracture, describing the situation as one of the scariest moments of his life.
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Canterbury’s Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was pleading with himself as he lay in a Gold Coast hospital bed.
Watene-Zelezniak had a lump on his back that made him “look like a camel” and doctors were testing to see if the Bulldogs fullback had full feeling in his legs.
“Oh crap, please, please, please feel it,” he told himself.
Watene-Zelezniak had hurt his back after diving to score a try in the first half while playing for New Zealand Maori in the All Stars last month.
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At halftime, Watene-Zelezniak told team medical staff he wanted to get back onto the field and finish the game despite a huge haematoma appearing on his back.
But doctors feared the severe bruise was hiding an even more sinister injury, a spine fracture. The Kiwi international described the moment as the one of the scariest in his life.
“There was a lump on my back. I wanted to go back on but I showed the doc and said ‘doc, what’s on my back?’. He said I don’t think you should go back on and when he said it could have been a back fracture, I sort of took a step back,” Watene-Zelezniak said.
“The scariest part was when I went to hospital to do the tests.
“They do the prick and cotton test all the way down your legs, that was the scariest bit because you are hoping you feel everything.
“So I was lying there thinking ‘Oh crap, please, please, please feel it’.”
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But now that Watene-Zelezniak has received the all clear he can finally see the lighter side of the situation and so can his very relieved wife, Purdy.
“I showed the boys [at half time] and the boys were all scared … so I looked in the mirror and I got scared. I sent a photo to my wife and she said I looked like a camel,” Watene-Zelezniak said with a laugh.
A Penrith Panthers junior, Watene-Zelezniak was raised through the ranks to despise the Parramatta Eels. But the feisty back believes the Bulldogs’ rivalry with the Blue and Gold is bigger than the Eels and Panthers.
“I just realised the rivalry between the Bulldogs and Parra is even stronger. I came from Penrith and it was bred into us as kids that ‘It’s the Battle of the West’. They call it the ‘Battle of the West’ here too. I’ve learned so much coming t the Bulldogs learning about the history of the club and the rivalries … I didn’t realise how much people didn’t like us, don’t like Canterbury,” he said.
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The last time Watene-Zelezniak faced the Eels in round 23 last year he was a marked man. Rampaging winger Maika Sivo nailed the fullback in the first half and then forward Nathan Brown collected him late in a heavy hit, which left him with a AC joint shoulder injury.
Watene-Zelezniak insisted he doesn’t hold any grudges but promised to ‘put his body on the line’ against the Eels tomorrow night at Bankwest Stadium.
“That’s football, you get hurt. I’ve had a lot worse in my career. Maika got me as well, that was in the first half … they were after me in that game. I’m not fussed on holding onto a grudge. But come Thursday, I’ll be playing my hardest for this team and putting my body on the line. When it comes to a game my mentality is either ‘me or them’,” he said.