Penrith duo combine for miracle play

The beneficiary of Penrith whiz kid Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s magic hands also served as the inspiration.

Dean Whare had the best view in the house in Saturday night’s thrilling NRL qualifying final won 19-18 by the Panthers, when Watene-Zelezniak leapt outside the field of play and miraculously flicked the ball back inside for his centre to touch down for the match-defining try.

But the fact Whare was part of the theatrics was no coincidence.

The Kiwi international produced a similarly freakish play for New Zealand at last year’s World Cup and he and Watene-Zelezniak have been practising the flashy move at training for this very moment.

With the Panthers down 18-12 and only three minutes left on the clock, brilliant young winger Watene-Zelezniak refused to give up on a Jamie Soward grubber that appeared destined to go into touch.

He had too much awareness for Roosters fullback Anthony Minichiello, who was a spectator as Watene-Zelezniak kept his body airborne and whipped the bouncing Steeden back for an expectant rather than surprised Whare.

“It’s pretty funny. I done a similar one in the World Cup against England (in the semi-final) and we were talking about it and practised it a few times and it came off tonight,” said Whare.

“So we laughed straight away as soon as it happened. We were talking about it while the game was still on the line.

“It’s definitely something we’ve practised before – just whenever the ball is in that corner.

“I knew it was going to come so I was just waiting there.”

It will go down as one of the biggest plays of the season.

Without it Penrith would be preparing for a sudden-death clash with North Queensland.

But thanks to Watene-Zelezniak and the laser boot of Soward, Penrith have a week off before they attempt to qualify for their first grand final since the fairytale Panthers side of 2003.

Soward said 19-year-old Watene-Zelezniak had shown awareness beyond his years.

“It was a massive play by Dallin at the end not to give up, that’s part of the culture,” he said.

“We play for 80 minutes, it doesn’t matter what the score is.”

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!