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 most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand and grew up in Australia. He played for the Minchinbury Jets in the

Penrith District Junior Rugby League The Penrith District Junior Rugby League (PDJRL) is an amateur rugby league competition for senior and junior rugby league clubs in the Penrith, Blacktown, and Blue Mountains area. History The competition was founded in 1912 and grew grad ...

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 leagu ...

in round 21 of the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

which ended in a 26-20 victory for Penrith at Panthers Stadium.

2020

Leniu played 12 games for Penrith in the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

but did not feature in the clubs finals campaign or the

2020 NRL Grand Final The 2020 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2020 National Rugby League season held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on October 25. The match was contested between minor premiers Penrith Panthers and second-placed Melb ...

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 me ...

2021

Leniu played a total of 19 games for Penrith in the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

including the club's

2021 NRL Grand Final The 2021 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2021 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday 3 October at Suncorp Stadiu ...

victory over South Sydney.

2022

Leniu played 25 games for Penrith in the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

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 The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £ ...

2023

On 18 February, Leniu played in Penrith's 13-12 upset loss to

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

in the

2023 World Club Challenge The 2023 World Club Challenge (known as the 2023 Betfred World Club Challenge for sponsorship reasons) was the 29th staging of the World Club Challenge. The match was contested by the National Rugby League, NRL winners Penrith Panthers, and Su ...

. 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 O ...

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 The 2023 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2023 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday the 1st of October at Accor Stadi ...

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 into th ...

, Leniu was placed on report during the Sydney Roosters victory over Brisbane at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. It was alleged that Leniu had called Brisbane player

Ezra Mam Ezra Mam (born 31 January 2003) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League. Background Mam was born in Sydney into a family of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Isla ...

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 Medallis ...

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 Naufahu Whyte (born 4 April 2002) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or forward for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL). Playing career In round 22 2021, Whyte made his NRL debut for the Sydney Ro ...

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 Mi ...

. 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 The 2024 State of Origin series is the 43rd annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Queensland had won 24 times, NSW 16 times, with two series drawn. Game I Game I was hel ...

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