Sydney roosters coach Trent Robinson came to the defense of Spencer Leniu following a fiery exchange on the field and post-match between the LNR legend and the legend of the LNR Johnathan Thurston on Friday evening.
The drama took place during and after the victory of the Roosters 26-16 against the Brisbane Broncos, in what was the first Leniu match against the team since last year’s racism scandal involving the broncos playmaker, Ezra Mam.
In the tense confrontation, Leniu would have described Thurston as “F *** Wit” while being on the ground with 20 minutes to do. After the final whistle, he would have approached Thurston again and described him as “F *** ING C ***”.
The altercation would have been triggered by the previous public comments of Thurston, in which it condemned the treatment by the LNR of the Racism incident and called the prohibition of eight weeks of Leniu.
Thurston had previously declared on the Teday program of Channel Nine: “The LNR had an excellent opportunity to make a position, not only for the game but also for the company. I think the game failed in this case.
He argued that Leniu should have received a 12 -week suspension instead of eight for calling MAM a monkey during their confrontation in Las Vegas.
Roosters striker Spencer Leniu and Cowboys Great Johnathan Thurston had a full -time conversation Friday evening at the Suncorp Stadium
The coach of the Roosters, Trent Robinson, sprawled by suggestions that Spencer Leniu had done something bad in confrontations with Thurston
Speaking after Friday evening’s match, Robinson criticized the media questioning line and insisted that Leniu had done nothing wrong.
“There is a discussion there, but from what I saw, there was no crossing of the line there,” said Robinson. “I don’t know why – Spencer, he went and approach anyone. I don’t know why you are trying to put it on Spence here.
The Roosters coach went further, accusing the media of pre-start the situation.
“This is how the questions happen, you just have to pay attention to how you ask questions too,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s on anyone, I think it’s a discussion between two men. So cool your jets with regard to the accusations around someone, the way you question there, you have already trained an opinion.
Robinson minimized the severity of the exchange between Leniu and Thurston.
“Two guys with a conversation, it could be heated. But nothing was bad, as far as I know, and it was an incident and it is OK for the guys to have this conversation ”, he said.
“They just had a discussion on the touch, I don’t think the details are still very clear, but these are only two passionate guys with a conversation on the differences in opinion that I think.”
Thurston worked as part of the Channel Nine comment team when the incident occurred
Thurston, premiere winner among cowboys in northern Queensland, had called for a greater penalty when Spencer Leniu was suspended last year for a racial village Ezra Mam
The teammate of the Roosters Siua Wong and the broncos veteran, Ben Hunt, intervened to help disseminate the situation.
One source told Sydney Morning Herald that Thurston seemed amazed by Leniu’s words during the second half and post-match confrontation incident.
Leniu acknowledged that the explosion comes from persistent frustration in the way in which last year’s incident was discussed publicly.
The rooster application was prohibited for eight games after admitting having called MAM a monkey, an insult Thurston and many others in the game considered to be deeply offensive.
Thurston, an Aboriginal Australian proud, previously revealed that he had spoken to Mam after the incident and said that the young playmaker was `enough broken ”.
“I know that Spencer came out and possessed it like him, he apologized to Ezra,” said Thurston. “He also has great family support around him and players around him.”
After the Las Vegas match, Leniu offered personal apology and even volunteered to go to Brisbane to apologize in person, but Mam refused the meeting.
The incident led to a 90 -minute judicial hearing in Sydney, where Leniu pleaded guilty of contrary driving and was suspended until the 10th round.
Despite the outdoor drama, Robinson expressed his pride in the performance of his team on the field.
“We have obviously missed the brand 1, but we are up to our eye globes for each match since,” he said. “There is a real spirit in this team and you have seen it from the start.”
