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“Watching replays of Ezra on Monday night, I was getting flashbacks of myself, and knowing how that moment just strikes you and you have that disbelief.
“You think about Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, and if this is the way people really look at us.
Brisbane five-eighth Ezra Mam.Credit: AP
“My motivation when I was playing was to influence people about how there were a lot of positive things about Aboriginal people. Then you see this and wonder, ‘Are we really getting anywhere?’
The Fletcher incident never made its way to the NRL judiciary. Widders said Fletcher and Brad Fittler had helped get him his NRL start at the Roosters, and that Fletcher had become a better person “for what he went through”.
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Widders wanted to attend Spencer Leniu’s hearing to equip himself with answers for when Indigenous players inevitably contact him in the next few days to ask about the case.
He has spoken with Mam several times, and said he was encouraged by the way the Broncos had supported him, “because he’s going to need help getting through [it]” .
“It can really drain you and take its toll,” Widders said. “You only have to read a couple of comments on any social media post about this issue, and it’s horrific.
“Spencer is not a racist guy. I think it’s the systemic racism that exists in this country that allows these slips in NRL games.
“I have no doubt that in this country that we’re living in at the moment, this stuff will happen again. In the next to 12 to 18 months, we’ll have another episode. It could be on the field, it could be anything. Sadly we have to keep working on it. We’re not where we need to be as a country.”
The biggest Indigenous voice in the game, Latrell Mitchell, has been vocal about the Mam-Leniu situation on social media, and Widders said Mitchell should be applauded for leading the way.
“Everyone is ready to knock Latrell down, even our own mob, but he keeps standing up,” Widders said. “He’s been so strong when it comes to standing up to racism. A lot of our mob need it.
“A lot of our mob suffer in silence, and turn to other things to help cope. But he speaks up, he’s always been that voice, and I applaud him for it.”