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“We’ve been called everything growing up. Us Polynesians have it tough growing up.

“Was the eight weeks for [Leniu] too long? For me, personally, yes. It was way too long. At the end of the day he apologised, right? He got charged. That is it.

“Four weeks would have been more than enough. You don’t know what’s going through his head now.

“Spencer said what he said, he didn’t mean it, and I believe him. I can see where he’s coming from [in his belief that terms were not racist]. We do know some of the history of the Aboriginals on this land. For him to say that word, I didn’t think it was that big of a thing until it happened.”

Olakau’atu grew up in a multicultural community in western Sydney, and said he was regularly referred to as a “coconut” – an offensive slur often directed at people of Polynesian background – and that had continued on the playing field in the NRL.

“I’ve been called everything on the field, but it’s just words to me – I’ve been called ‘coconut’ many times in the NRL,” Olakau’atu said.

When pressed if the words had been used by white players, Olakau’atu said: “Bro, anyone. It’s part of the game, it’s the heat of the moment, and at the end of the day they don’t really mean it. It’s just words to me.

“It will happen when you have a scuffle ... I got called that growing up in school. You get used to it. It’s just words. I hope he [Leniu] gets this message. I hope he is doing well mentally.”

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NRL judiciary chair Geoff Bellew said in his summary of reasons for the eight-week ban that the panel were “satisfied the player did intend to use the word ‘monkey’ as a racist comment”.

“The panel did not accept the player’s claimed ignorance that he was not aware that ‘monkey’ was, when used towards the Indigenous community, a racist term; in light of that finding, the panel was satisfied that the offending fell at a high degree of objective seriousness,” Bellew wrote.

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