HERE’S an emerging NRL star guaranteed to restore your faith in rugby league.

After a week of headlines dominated by mug shots, CCTV footage, hand-cuffs and cover-ups, Penrith’s Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is the antidote to the NRL’s public relations nightmare.

This is a 19-year-old Mormon out of the Penrith junior nursery who openly declares no intention of ever touching booze, cigarettes or any other illicit substance.

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“I’m a Mormon and I love it. It’s the foundation I’ve built off and it’s kept my discipline,” Watene-Zelezniak said.

“A lot if it relates to football. The way we don’t drink, we don’t smoke and we don’t take drugs.

“Those little things really help when you’re trying to make it as a professional athlete.”

media_camera Bulldog's Mitch Brown and Panther's Dallin Watene-Zelezniak leap for a bomb.

Dubbed “DWZ” by Penrith general manager Phil Gould, this NRL rookie is the great-grandson of New Zealand Test captain and politician Steve Watene.

Identified as a special talent in the Penrith juniors, DWZ scored two tries in his NRL debut last season before producing one of the plays of the finals for the Panthers to upstage the Roosters in the opening week of September.

With rival clubs beginning to circle, the Panthers swooped last week by signing DWZ on a one-year extension until the end of 2016.

In an indication of how talented the teenager is, the Panthers are already talking openly about their long-term plan to move Matt Moylan into the halves and play DWZ at fullback.

“We probably see him as possibly filling the fullback role. Obviously Matty Moylan is here at the moment and he’s doing a fair job but Matt’s also played in a the halves as a junior,” Cleary said.

“So we’ll see where that goes. Dallin is a little bit like Alex Johnston. They’re the same age, they played fullback right through the juniors and they’re both fantastic wingers at the moment.

“For us, part of Dallin’s development is just playing first grade. He’s only just turned 19 at the end of last year so we don’t want to rush him.

“I like players who can play different positions. His pre-season has been interrupted but we’ve certainly got high hopes for him and we see him playing some NRL this year.”

media_camera Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scores a try in the corner.

In 10 NRL appearances last season, DWZ bagged seven tries and showed enough finesse to prompt Kiwi coach Steve Kearney to pick him for the Four Nations.

The Panthers flyer was even selected to make his international debut until he suffered a Jones fracture in his foot going for a routine swim at the Surfers Paradise beach in the Kiwi camp.

“It was the day I got told I was playing for the Kiwis. I went to the beach just before I went to Brisbane,” Watene-Zelezniak said.

“I was swimming and it felt like something bit me. Then all of a sudden I couldn’t walk back to the hotel and so straight away I knew something was up.

media_camera Dallin Watene-Zelezniak celebrates scoring.

“For me, everything happens for a reason.

“It’s probably the most down I’ve been in my career because I was at my highest and then straight away I went down to my lowest.

“Everything happens for a reason but I’m still figuring that reason out. It might come soon.”

In a week when rugby league was crying out for a good news story, DWZ is a rolled gold advertisement.