{"id":880538,"date":"2026-09-05T05:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T05:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/880538\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T05:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T05:08:13","slug":"nrl-2026-spencer-leniu-must-balance-his-aggression-for-the-roosters-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/880538\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Spencer Leniu must balance his aggression for the Roosters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roosters coach Trent Robinson loved the fire he saw from Spencer Leniu on Friday night but reminded his enforcer in the middle that he needs to regulate his aggression to ensure it doesn\u2019t cost them in the finals.<\/p>\n

There were emotional scenes before the game against South Sydney as both sides and their supporters came together to celebrate Jai Arrow\u2019s 100th game for the Rabbitohs. <\/p>\n

But the pleasantries were never going to last between the biggest NRL rivals, with Leniu and Rabbitohs forward Keaon Koloamatangi coming together midway through the first half.<\/p>\n

Koloamatangi put on a big shot from the kick-off and let Leniu know about it, with the pair clashing later in the set near halfway.<\/p>\n

The Roosters were awarded a set restart which led to Leniu getting in his rival\u2019s face which sparked a melee. Things appeared to have cooled down, only for Leniu to fire up again which saw referee Adam Gee reverse the penalty. <\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s game didn\u2019t mean much for the Roosters who were always going to finish fourth, but a similar penalty could be costly in the finals. <\/p>\n

\u201c(He flirted with the line) and he went over it, and I want him to play with his natural spirit and just stay under the line,\u201d Robinson said after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spoke about that, and I\u2019ll encourage him to be himself and take on the opposition, and then he\u2019s got enough experience that he just should have regulated that and played the ball. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut after that, what did he do wrong? <\/p>\n

\u201cHe creates an atmosphere when he\u2019s in that mode. Other than that, I would have liked it to be beneficial for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leniu came off after 30 minutes and copped it deluxe from Souths fans, with the fiery forward giving it straight back to them as they hurled abuse while he was on the exercise bike.<\/p>\n

There was terrific theatre in the final few minutes as the crowd roared when Latrell Mitchell was shown on the big screen, only for them to boo Leniu when they showed him on the bench.<\/p>\n

Robinson didn\u2019t bring the Samoan star back on in the second half but explained it was purely so his youngsters could get a taste of first grade on the biggest stage. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was good for the fans, a good spectacle leading into the finals,\u201d Koloamatangi said afterwards. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were teammates in Origin. We spoke about it after the game and had a laugh about it so we\u2019ll leave it on the field and we\u2019re sweet. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the enemy (when we\u2019re not playing together). He\u2019s not on my side, so whoever\u2019s not on my side is the enemy. I won\u2019t back down to anyone, but after the game we laughed about it and moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Souths veteran Cody Walker enjoyed the fiery exchange on a night his side sealed a home final next week, with Rabbitohs fans relieved Mitchell\u2019s monster shot on Toby Rodwell didn\u2019t creep up high in the dying stages. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think with the whole rivalry, it\u2019s not a Roosters and Souths game without a bit of that feel and oomph,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Keaon handled himself quite well and gave us a penalty. You\u2019ve got to expect those things when you\u2019re coming up against two arch-rivals. They go at each other on the field and leave it there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018He\u2019s the enemy\u2019: Trent Robinson loved Spencer Leniu\u2019s aggression on Friday night, but it\u2019s a balancing act going into the finals<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roosters coach Trent Robinson loved the fire he saw from Spencer Leniu on Friday night but reminded his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[447543,449313,377468,380197,449298,76280,449321,449295,376963,449301,421477,394035,377513,378351,380327,449310,449290,449306,449302,7814,449296,64,63,384437,379391,79357,449305,449309,16308,386063,47996,39598,449314,449287,449304,449292,449315,388259,377460,449300,4494,449286,16283,449322,1082,420973,449291,64026,436146,761,762,51485,35062,158,16911,204228,1654,449288,449284,9747,9120,380296,449289,14867,447755,449312,49459,85,232287,449299,449320,449318,377205,449307,380307,449285,428603,377127,449308,397654,449316,404000,377453,421853,449317,449319,377514,387514,449294,74713,439355,87494,288453,392791,376757,388251,449297,378780,174850,449311,380344,377805,377982,449293,413461,380902,240102,4737,449303],"class_list":["post-880538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-100th-game","tag-s-aggression","tag-s-face","tag-s-game","tag-s-monster-shot","tag-30-minutes","tag-a-balancing-act","tag-a-big-shot","tag-a-bit","tag-a-good-spectacle","tag-a-home-final","tag-a-laugh","tag-a-melee","tag-a-night","tag-a-penalty","tag-a-roosters-and-souths-game","tag-a-set-restart","tag-a-similar-penalty","tag-a-taste","tag-abuse","tag-an-atmosphere","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-both-sides","tag-each-other","tag-emotional-scenes","tag-enough-experience","tag-fiery-leniu","tag-finals","tag-first-grade","tag-fourth","tag-friday","tag-halfway-the-roosters","tag-his-aggression","tag-his-confrontation","tag-his-enforcer","tag-his-natural-spirit","tag-his-rival","tag-his-side","tag-his-youngsters","tag-jai-arrow","tag-keaon","tag-keaon-koloamatangi","tag-koloamatangi","tag-latrell-mitchell","tag-leniu","tag-leniu-and-rabbitohs","tag-mitchell","tag-my-side","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-next-week","tag-night","tag-nrl","tag-origin","tag-penalties","tag-rabbitohs","tag-rabbitohs-fans","tag-referee-adam-gee","tag-robinson","tag-roosters","tag-roosters-coach-trent-robinson","tag-shock-reaction","tag-south-sydney","tag-souths-fans","tag-souths-veteran-cody-walker","tag-spencer-leniu","tag-sports","tag-teammates","tag-terrific-theatre","tag-that-feel-and-oomph","tag-that-mode","tag-the-ball","tag-the-bench-robinson","tag-the-big-screen","tag-the-biggest-nrl-rivals","tag-the-biggest-stage","tag-the-crowd","tag-the-dying-stages","tag-the-enemy","tag-the-exercise-bike-there","tag-the-fans","tag-the-field","tag-the-fiery","tag-the-fiery-exchange","tag-the-final-few-minutes","tag-the-finals","tag-the-fire","tag-the-first-half-koloamatangi","tag-the-game","tag-the-kick-off","tag-the-line","tag-the-middle","tag-the-opposition","tag-the-pair","tag-the-penalty","tag-the-pleasantries","tag-the-rabbitohs","tag-the-roosters","tag-the-samoan-star","tag-the-second-half","tag-the-set","tag-the-sort","tag-the-whole-rivalry","tag-their-supporters","tag-those-things","tag-toby-rodwell","tag-trent-robinson","tag-two-arch-rivals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}