Spencer Leniu (born 8 September 2000) is a Samoa international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a for the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

(NRL).

Background

Leniu was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand and grew up in Australia. He played for the Minchinbury Jets in the Penrith District Junior Rugby League.

Career

2019

Leniu made his first grade debut for Penrith against the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

in round 21 of the 2019 NRL season which ended in a 26-20 victory for Penrith at Panthers Stadium.

2020

Leniu played 12 games for Penrith in the 2020 NRL season but did not feature in the clubs finals campaign or the 2020 NRL Grand Final loss to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

2021

Leniu played a total of 19 games for Penrith in the 2021 NRL season including the club's 2021 NRL Grand Final victory over South Sydney.

2022

Leniu played 25 games for Penrith in the 2022 NRL season including the clubs 2022 NRL Grand Final victory over

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. In October Leniu was named in the Samoa squad for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.

2023

On 18 February, Leniu played in Penrith's 13-12 upset loss to St Helens RFC in the 2023 World Club Challenge. On February, Leniu announced he will join

from 2024 onwards. Leniu was selected as 19th man in the NSW Blues

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

squad for Game 3. Leniu played 21 games for Penrith in the 2023 NRL season including the clubs 26-24 victory over Brisbane in the 2023 NRL Grand Final as Penrith won their third straight premiership.

2024

In round 1 of the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season will be the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams in the league remained unchanged after the admission of the Dolphins (NRL), Do ...

, Leniu was placed on report during the Sydney Roosters victory over Brisbane at the

Allegiant Stadium Allegiant Stadium is a domed stadium located in Paradise, Nevada. It is the home stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels college football team, the Las Ve ...

in Las Vegas. It was alleged that Leniu had called Brisbane player Ezra Mam a "monkey". The incident was immediately reported to the NRL judiciary. Leniu pleaded guilty to a contrary conduct charge and was suspended for eight games at the sentencing hearing on 11 March. Leniu was asked about the racial vilification aimed at AFL legend

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

which ended his career, but the Sydney Roosters prop claimed he didn’t know who Goodes was. On 21 May, the Sydney Roosters hit back at claims that Leniu had been taking illegal substances on a live stream along with fellow players Brandon Smith,

Zach Dockar-Clay Zach Dockar-Clay (born 24 April 1995) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the North Sydney Bears in the NSW Cup. He previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL. He also played fo ...

, Naufahu Whyte and

Terrell May Terrell May (born 29 April 1999) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL). Background May was born in Blacktown and played his junior rugby league for the M ...

. The club released a statement which read “The Sydney Roosters have been made aware of a small clip from a longer live stream that some on social media have claimed identifies behaviour that breaches NRL rules. “The clip reveals no use of illicit substances or any other breach of NRL rules, however some see fit to make that grossly distorted and clearly damaging claim". On 26 May, Leniu was one of the surprise selections by New South Wales ahead of the 2024 State of Origin series.

References

External links

Panthers profileSamoa profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leniu, Spencer 2000 births Living people New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Rugby league players from Auckland Penrith Panthers players Sydney Roosters players Rugby league props Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players