Villain Spencer Leniu blasts Queensland over kick-off act
Spencer Leniu blasted a move from the Queenslanders on Wednesday night as he waited to make an impact in the State of Origin opener for NSW.
Leading into the first game at Suncorp Stadium, all eyes were on NSW firebrand Leniu, labelled Queensland's main target after his run-in with Johnathan Thurston earlier this year.
It took until the 30th minute of the first half for the fired up home crowd to get its wish and have a chance to vent its frustration at the Roosters prop.
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Coming on for Payne Haas, Leniu had to wait for his first touch, with Maroons winger Valentine Holmes kicking off to the opposite side of the field to where the 24-year-old NSW star was lining up following the visitors' second try of the night.
Leniu responded to that move by blasting some of his Maroons counterparts.
'Spencer has just realised Queensland aren't going to kick to him from the restart,' Mat Thompson said on Channel 9.
Andrew Johns added: 'He is blowing up.'
Leniu then got his first carry a couple of tackles later and the boos rained down on the maligned prop.
'Get ready, here comes Spencer,' Thompson said.
'Here's his first touch, there's the reception from the Suncorp crowd, he's public enemy No. 1.'
The Triple M commentary team also noted Leniu's introduction.
'Leniu just popped up on the big screen, hence the chorus of boos,' Dan Ginnane noted.
'Here he comes, that's a pretty innocuous run, a good one. Even the most banal of runs has to have something about it for Spencer.'
Leniu's night then went up a notch when he took out Queensland hooker Harry Grant with another hit-up, drawing blood from the face of the Storm star.
Fans watching on felt Leniu represented the hot first half for the Blues.
'When Queensland didn't want to kick to Spencer Leniu, that's when you knew the game was won for NSW,' was one early comment on X.
'Spencer Leniu owns the entire state of Queensland,' suggested another.
'Spenny the boogey man,' added a third.
The well-publicised spat with Thurston stemmed from last year's racism saga, when Leniu was banned for eight games for calling Queenslander Ezra Mam a 'monkey' during Round 1 last season.
Leniu came off the bench for NSW and was tipped to be targeted by Queensland's forward pack, although the Maroons weren't able to inflict any damage on the maligned star.
The Thurston and Mam incidents appeared to be the motivation when The Courier-Mail's back page on Tuesday called for the Maroons to 'Smash This Blues Grub', who they called the 'new Paul Gallen'.
Last month, vision emerged of a heated exchange between the Roosters enforcer and NRL legend Thurston.
Leniu and Thurston had two dramatic confrontations during the Roosters' 26-16 win over the Broncos, with the fiery encounters reportedly stemming from that racism scandal in last year's Vegas encounter.
At that time, Thurston took a public stand in condemning Leniu over the alleged 'monkey' comment he made to Broncos playmaker Mam in Las Vegas.
And the situation came to a head during that round six NRL clash, with Leniu reportedly calling Thurston a 'f***wit' after coming from the field in the 55th minute of play.
The sideline microphones picked up an inaudible, muffled comment as Leniu left the field near Thurston.
New footage then surfaced of another run-in with Thurston at full-time, when Leniu again gave the North Queensland great a piece of his mind as the Roosters' media manager attempted to pull him away.
The North Queensland Cowboys grand final hero was commentating in his role with Channel 9.
It took longer than they wanted, but the crowd finally got to voice its feelings towards Leniu in the Origin opener.
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