“[The support from Roosters coach Trent Robinson] was a massive thing for me. It would be [understandable] from their end if I had to leave the club. At my end, I want to stay for life. They put their arm around me. I was happy to go out and play footy and repay them back.”
It was reported that several Broncos players had clashed with Leniu in a hotel after the Vegas clash. Brisbane skipper Pat Carrigan was one of the first Queenslanders selected by coach Billy Slater.
Spencer Leniu clashes with Kotoni Staggs minutes after calling Ezra Mam a “monkey” in Las Vegas.Credit: Getty
Leniu did not expect things to get personal next Wednesday, but said: “To be honest, I don’t think any Origin game is not fiery. If anyone sees Maroon, it’s on. If they see blue, it’s on. I know if I see Maroon, it’s on.
“It comes with playing that prop role. You have to play aggressively, that’s who I am. I can’t wait to rip in. I’m obsessed with this game. With this game, you take the good with the bad. If I get 10,000 boos and one, ‘Hooray’, I’ll take it.”
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Mam was left shattered by events in Las Vegas, and declined Leniu’s offer of a clear-the-air meeting in the weeks that followed.
“I think when the time is right we will have a chat, and I appreciate that he [Leniu] wanted to come up and reach out to me,” Mam said last month.
“I’ve moved on from that now – I’ll probably just have a chat to him when I see him or whenever it is.”
Leniu, one of six NSW debutants, told this masthead on Tuesday: “The narrative should be that we’re both in the Origin system, with him named as Queensland’s 20th man.
“Nobody will know when we meet. If he wants to say when I meet up with him, that’s on him. From my end, nobody will know.”
Leniu was part of the NSW extended squad last year, which included his first-ever trip to Coogee after spending his entire life growing up in western Sydney.
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