Overnight, it has emerged that a number of Brisbane Broncos players and Rooster Spencer Leniu have been involved in a late-night incident after Leniu was accused of using a racial slur in the match between the two clubs.
The Sydney Morning Herald first reported that the incident occurred in the early morning hours after the two teams ran into each other at the Hilton hotel in Resorts World.
Sharing the same floor, the publication understands that the incident was only verbal and not physical, with the confrontation being confirmed by the two clubs.
It was understood that Kotoni Staggs and Spencer Leniu exchanged words before Patrick Carrigan also exchanged words with the Sydney Roosters recruit being confronted by the Broncos players.
However,ย The Courier Mailย has since revealed that Leniu verbally attacked Ezra Mam in a second altercation before Patrick Carrigan lep to his teammate's defence.
Theย News Corpย publication revealed that well-placed sources state that Staggs, Mam and Carrigan were returning to their rooms before they had an unexpected meeting with Leniu.
The Sydney Roosters recruit reportedly verbally attacked Kotoni Staggs first before launching a verbal attack on Ezra Mam until Patrick Carrigan jumped between the two players.
In an incident late in the game, Spencer Leniu was placed on report after Ezra Mam formally complained to referee Adam Gee that the ex-Panther said a racial slur to the five-eighth.
Gee, who was joined by the two touch judges in the middle of the field, told skippersย Adam Reynoldsย andย James Tedesco, as well as Mam, that he didn't hear the comment leading to the complaint.
"Ezra has made a formal complaint that is racial in nature against Spencer," Gee said on-field.
"I haven't heard it, but the incident goes on report and it will be dealt with after. That's where it's left."
Asked about the incident post-game, Leniu toldย Triple M Radio there was nothing in it and it was all just fun and games.
"Nah nothing, it's all just fun and games on the field and that's it. I'm not worried at all," Leniu said in Las Vegas.
Brisbane Broncos coach Kevin Walters confirmed post-game that the club had lodged a formal complaint with the NRL and stated the Mam was adamant about what he heard.
โHe's pretty upset in there, but we'll leave that in the hands of the NRL to police and adjudicate on,โ Walters said.
โWe support Ezra and our player with everything around that. He's adamant. We'll leave it with the NRL. They're looking at it.
โWe don't accept that in our club, certainly. It's not our doing. We won't take any more questions on it, except we support Ezra in every way. We respect the NRL, and they'll deal with it.โ
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson also spoke about the incident after the match but decided not to comment further on the situation than needed.
โThere's no comment from me about it, I don't know what happened,โ Robinson said.
โEzra is adamant, but that doesn't mean it's right. He made the complaint, it doesn't mean it's right. It will go through formal process as it should.โ
