‘We've got his back': Daley stands behind ‘Blues grub' Leniu
'Will Spencer Leniu be a target? I think so, just not in the way he expects. But then again, I'm not the coach.'
ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys said he loved the Origin build-up, and was all for the interstate barbs, as long as they were in good taste.
'The Queenslanders are like Clark Kent because they put that Maroons jumper on and turn into Superman – they just love their state,' V'landys said.
'I enjoy the headlines and media coverage, and as long as none of it impacts a player's self-esteem or mental state, it's all part of the rivalry, and you have to take it in that vein.'
Several former Queensland Origin greats gathered for lunch in the Queensland capital on Tuesday, and said if Leniu was labelled a 'grub', it was a show of respect from the locals.
'I wore that tag with pride,' Josh McGuire said. 'If Spencer keeps doing what he's doing, he'll play Origin every year for NSW. We don't like you, you don't like us – if we don't like him, he must be doing something right.
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'The game is losing characters, and Spencer is one of the last intimidating players in the game. He was under Jared Waerea-Hargreaves at the Roosters, and learned some really good lessons off some really tough guys.'
Queensland legend Trevor Gillmeister said of the rivalry: 'They used to boo Wally Lewis, and one year in Sydney, when the crowd started chanting, 'Wally's a wanker', 'Fatty' [Paul Vautin] and the other boys started to join in, as if to make light of it.
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