Penrith young gun Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has declared his former teammate, Gold Coast flyer James Roberts the fastest player in the NRL.
The Panthers and Titans go head-to-head in Bathurst on Saturday and after a double in the Titans’ heartbreaking opening round loss to Wests Tigers, Watene-Zelezniak believes Roberts is the man to watch for the Panthers.
Roberts has had his fair share of dramas away from football and after stints with South Sydney and the Panthers has finally found a home on the Gold Coast.
“He is a good mate of mine, he taught me a lot about what to expect of first grade when I was coming through,” Watene-Zelezniak said of Roberts.
“He just said do what you know you can do, stay confident, don’t think that just because it is your first game in first grade, you can’t do it, you have done it before, be confident.
“He is the fastest man in the NRL, for sure, he is a bullet
“He’s going well up at the Titans, I am happy for him.”
Several of Roberts’ teammates could lay claim to the title of the NRL’s fastest alongside Alex Johnston, Marika Koroibete, Dylan Walker, James Tedesco, the Morris twins Brett and Josh, Shaun Johnson and Michael Jennings.
With the likes of Roberts, William Zillman, Kevin Gordon, Josh Hoffman and David Mead, the Titans have one of the paciest backlines in the NRL.
“A lot of their outside backs have very good feet and we have to watch that,” Panthers back-rower Elijah Taylor said.
However Watene-Zelezniak prefers to focus on his own game.
“I don’t really like watching my opposition, I just like to keep my game the same from week to week, I don’t like to change it up,” he said.
“But I know we are in for a tough game this weekend.”
KEY STATS
* Penrith have not enjoyed successive wins to start the NRL season since 2006.
* The Titans had a better away record last season (6/12) than they did at home (3/12).
* Titans fullback Wil Zillman plays his 124th game for the club, moving him alongside Scott Prince as their third most capped player, behind Mark Minichiello (173) and Luke Bailey (150) .
* James Segeyaro has been a revelation since becoming the Panthers starting hooker in round nine last year: over that period he has scored 11 tries, made 16 linebreaks, busted 70 tackles and made 25 offloads; All significantly more than any other starting hooker over that period.
* Gold Coast winger David Mead has scored seven tries in his past seven games against Penrith.
