Warriors star knocked out in scary incident

Warriors star Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was out cold before he even hit the ground in a sickening moment that saw the Anzac Day night clash in Melbourne stopped for several minutes.

The Warriors eventually gave a positive update that the Kiwi international was conscious, but it was a scary sight to see him taken from the field on the back of a medi-cab.

The former Panthers and Bulldogs star was knocked out in a freak incident that saw him falling forward into the flying knee of Storm wrecking ball Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

The incident came as Ryan Papenhuyzen scored his second try of the game off an unlikely kick from the Storm forward.

Asofa-Solomona was chasing up his own kick when Watene-Zelezniak took to the air before he made contact with teammate Bayley Sironen. The mid-air contact saw the 26-year-old twist forward as he fell into the knee of Asofa-Solomona.

Replays showed he was clearly knocked out immediately as his head whiplashed backwards from the Storm star's knee.

He also fell heavily into the turf without any ability to brace his fall.

"He hasn't moved since," Fox League commentator Warren Smith said as medical officials began treating the injured player.

"Oh boy, he was out unfortunately before he hit the turf."

He did not move for several minutes before he was eventually picked up and loaded onto the back of the medi-cab.

Fox League sideline reporter Jake Duke reported a few minutes later that Watene-Zelezniak was showing some good signs of recovering.

"The good news is he is conscious, he is responsive in the Warriors changing room after that nasty head knock," Duke said.

"They told me it did take him a while to come around. But the good news is that they are pretty confident it is a concussion, but no other issues in regard to his face."

The Warriors ended up falling to the Storm in a record 70-10 defeat in the Anzac clash.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission