Latest news with #SpencerLeniu
Sydney Morning Herald
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
NRL 2025 LIVE updates: St George Illawarra Dragons v Sydney Roosters
Go to latest Have your say: who wins tonight? 5.05pm Roosters team list: Collins moves to the bench Trent Robinson has moved Spencer Leniu to starting prop, with Lindsay Collins to now come off the bench. 4.55pm Dragons team list: Flanagan sticks with 1-17 No changes for Shane Flanagan's side to the one named on Tuesday. Here's how they line up today. 1. Clint Gutherson, 2. Tyrell Sloan, 3. Moses Suli, 4. Valentine Holmes, 5. Sione Finau, 6. Lyhkan King-Togia, 7. Kyle Flanagan, 8. Emre Guler, 9. Damien Cook, 10. David Klemmer, 11. Luciano Leilua, 12. Jaydn Su'A, 13. Jack De Belin, 14. Jacob Liddle, 15. Hamish Stewart, 16. Blake Lawrie, 17. Michael Molo 4.51pm Have your say: who wins tonight? 4.44pm Welcome Evening rugby league fans, and welcome to our live coverage of the Dragons and the Roosters tonight. This is a historic rivalry, and the games are always close, so you can expect a fiery clash in Kogarah. The Roosters have a bunch of players returning from Origin camp tonight – Angus Crichton, Connor Watson, Lindsay Collins, Robert Toia and Spencer Leniu – but perhaps the biggest in for the Tricolours is Sam Walker, who is finally returning from his ACL injury last year (plus a little setback with a thumb injury). The Dragons get Valentine Holmes back, but they're going to need to find something special to get one over the Roosters.
News.com.au
22-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Ezra Mam's raw admission on Spencer Leniu saga and car crash that causes mass outrage
Broncos star Ezra Mam has opened up about the car crash that left a woman and child injured as well as what was said between him and Spencer Leniu, ending a feud that stemmed from the Las Vegas racism saga. Last October, Mam made headlines for all the wrong reasons after his ute crashed into an Uber at Bardon, just outside of Brisbane injuring a woman and child. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. Mam passed the breathalyser test, but a roadside drug swap returned a positive reading to cocaine. Mam pleaded guilty to one count of driving while relevant drug is present in the blood and driving without a licence. But while the Magistrate was relatively lenient, the NRL was less so. The 22-year-old was slapped with a combined $120,000 in fines from the NRL and the Broncos and was handed a nine-game ban. Speaking about the ordeal, Mam says the whole experience has given him a different outlook on life, acknowledging in hindsight that he was previously very selfish. 'In hindsight, I didn't think about how my actions can impact others,' he said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. 'Obviously I'm trying my best to learn from that now, I'm here to make better decisions for myself. There's no excuse for my actions, I've got to own that now. 'I'm still learning to deal with everything. I feel very remorseful for everything that happened. 'For me, I was dealing with stuff in the wrong way. I need to learn from that. That's how I grow as a person. Experiences like this, you can take a lot away from it and I feel like I've taken a lot away from this situation to improve myself in many different ways.' Mam returned to the NRL for the Broncos against the Dragons in round 11 and was back to his scintillating best. Such was the strength of his performances that he was called into Billy Slater's Queensland squad for Origin Game 2. Mam was named 18th man for Game 2. And it incredibly allowed him to put another saga behind him, the feud with Blues enforcer Spencer Leniu. Vision from after Game 2 on Wednesday showed Leniu approach Queensland's 18th man after full-time, with the pair engaging in a brief conversation that ended in an embrace. You can watch the moment in the player at the top of the page. The touching moment showed they have seemingly finally buried the hatched some 16 months after Leniu labelled Mam a 'monkey' in the Las Vegas season opener between the Roosters and Broncos in 2024. Leniu copped an eight-match ban for the slur which he insisted was unintentional and was nothing more than 'one brown man saying something to another brown man'. But in a great show of character, after full-time, Leniu sought out Mam to bury the hatchet and clear the air with the Broncos star. And Mam revealed he has accepted Leniu's apology and says it is all in the past now. 'We were able to have a chat and put everything behind us. I won't go into much detail about what was said, but I'm happy he came up to me and we're able to move forward now and get on with the year,' Mam told SMH.
News.com.au
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Spencer Leniu and Ezra Mam embrace says it all after State of Origin Game 2
The long-running feud between Ezra Mam and Spencer Leniu dating back to a Vegas racism row is all but over after the pair were seen clearing the air before sharing a warm embrace after State of Origin Game 2 on Wednesday night. Vision, which you can watch above, showed Leniu approach Queensland's 18th man after full-time, with the pair engaging in a brief conversation that ended in an embrace. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. The touching moment showed they have seemingly finally buried the hatched some 16 months after the Blues enforcer labelled Mam a 'monkey' in the Las Vegas season opener between the Roosters and Broncos in 2024. Leniu copped an eight-match ban for the slur which he insisted was unintentional and was nothing more than 'one brown man saying something to another brown man'. The fallout continued even after he served his suspension with Leniu aggrieved at some of the commentary around the situation from people in the media, namely from Queensland legend Johnathan Thurston, who said the punishment should have been far harsher. Leniu clearly held a grudge against the Maroons great for his remarks and accused Thurston of being 'two-faced' and 'fake' following a sideline spat back in April. Thurston claimed the following day he was 'shocked' by Leniu's hostility, 'which was not of a racial nature, but overly aggressive in tone and unwarranted'. Leniu then posted on his Instagram: 'I never wanted to talk to JT. He kept trying to come to speak to me. 'I said, 'Lad idc (I don't care) if that you hate me for what I did. But don't come up to me asking me questions like we're Algood (sic). 'Don't be two face. Hate me lad I'm eetswa (sweet) with that. But don't be fake. I hate fake people.' Since then Leniu has been on a self-imposed media ban and stayed out of the limelight. In a great show of character, after full-time, he sought out Mam to bury the hatchet and clear the air with the Broncos star. And speaking after the exchange, Mam said it had all been settled. 'It's great that me and Spencer got the chance to see each other face-to-face last night,' Mam told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Age
18-06-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Glass houses to a glass jaw: Why Slater went too far in the Origin theatre
The first victim of State of Origin is context. For all the record ratings that the marquee series is able to generate come kick-off, it can be difficult to move the needle beforehand. The current series has been a hard sell for the beat reporters struggling to manufacture clicks. The players we most want to hear from, Latrell Mitchell and Spencer Leniu, have slapped media bans on themselves; the opening encounter, at least as a spectacle, was not a patch on the absolute blockbuster finale that decided last year's series; and NSW basing themselves in the Blue Mountains has made the squad less accessible to a media contingent attempting to find some flames to fan. The Blues' recent domination, coupled with limited access, is another contributing factor to making the Perth clash a tough sell. So it was in this context that Aaron Woods, in an attempt to spark some interest and banter, got on the airwaves for his employers at Triple M and said the following. 'I want to see the real Billy Slater come out - the grub that we know of,' Woods said. 'This is a bloke who kicked John Skandalis in the head and got a six-week suspension.' Given it was delivered on radio, we'll never know if it was done with a serious face. Regardless, it was an attempt to spark interest in the series, via a cheeky barb at a player who sometimes pushed boundaries on the field. It was blokey, jokey and even a little hokey.
Sydney Morning Herald
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Glass houses to a glass jaw: Why Slater went too far in the Origin theatre
The first victim of State of Origin is context. For all the record ratings that the marquee series is able to generate come kick-off, it can be difficult to move the needle beforehand. The current series has been a hard sell for the beat reporters struggling to manufacture clicks. The players we most want to hear from, Latrell Mitchell and Spencer Leniu, have slapped media bans on themselves; the opening encounter, at least as a spectacle, was not a patch on the absolute blockbuster finale that decided last year's series; and NSW basing themselves in the Blue Mountains has made the squad less accessible to a media contingent attempting to find some flames to fan. The Blues' recent domination, coupled with limited access, is another contributing factor to making the Perth clash a tough sell. So it was in this context that Aaron Woods, in an attempt to spark some interest and banter, got on the airwaves for his employers at Triple M and said the following. 'I want to see the real Billy Slater come out - the grub that we know of,' Woods said. 'This is a bloke who kicked John Skandalis in the head and got a six-week suspension.' Given it was delivered on radio, we'll never know if it was done with a serious face. Regardless, it was an attempt to spark interest in the series, via a cheeky barb at a player who sometimes pushed boundaries on the field. It was blokey, jokey and even a little hokey.
