Blues enforcer Spencer Leniu will be unleashed on Maroons, plus the battle between Mitch Moses and Jarome Luai
NSW’s chief villain Spencer Leniu, known for ‘wanting to hurt people’, will be unleashed for Origin I – setting up a ferocious meeting in Brisbane, while 160 minutes will decide a key spine position.
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NSW’s chief villain, Spencer Leniu, known for “wanting to hurt people”, will be unleashed for Origin I – setting up a ferocious meeting with the Queensland side and a rabid Suncorp Stadium crowd.
Over the past 14 months, Leniu has engaged in public wrangles with prominent Queenslanders Pat Carrigan, Johnathan Thurston and Ezra Mam. A Minchinbury Jets junior in Sydney’s west, Leniu could become Queensland’s number one target in the Brisbane cauldron.
Vigorous and aggressive, Leniu will roar into the game with his customary intensity and power.
“Leniu runs from the back fence and wants to hurt people – I love the way he plays,” said former NSW hard man Mark Carroll.
“We are playing the most physical game in the world so if Leniu can play for NSW, I would want him there. Rugby league and State of Origin loves theatre – we need theatre.”
Told Leniu would be taunted by the Maroons faithful, Carroll said: “Go for it, give it to him. Boos and louder than cheers. It won’t worry him.”
Leniu, who played a role in NSW’s 2-1 series win last year, will again be in beast mode.
Former Maroons champion Billy Moore said recently: “Queenslanders will give him (Leniu) a rev-up because that’s what Queenslanders love to do.”
Leniu was suspended last year for eight games after calling Brisbane’s Ezra Mam a “monkey” before then engaging in heated words with Carrigan in their Las Vegas hotel corridor post-game.
And last month, Leniu clashed heatedly during and after a NRL game with Queensland legend Thurston, who was completing sideline commentary for Channel 9.
Moses vs. Luai
This will be the high-intensity 160 minute shootout – a two-man all-star audition to determine who will be named NSW’s five-eighth.
With halfback Nathan Cleary certain of selection for State of Origin I in Brisbane on May 28, Parramatta’s Mitch Moses and Wests Tigers’ Jarome Luai are level-pegging for the Blues’ No.6.
With NSW coach Laurie Daley expected to announce his side on Monday week, Moses and Luai have just two games to impress and sneak ahead of the other.
While primarily a halfback, Moses will be considered as a five-eighth. Luai and Moses appear to be the only genuine contenders to partner Cleary.
Luai’s Wests Tigers play Melbourne (away) and Souths (home) over the next fortnight with Moses’ Eels to confront the Dolphins (home) and Newcastle (away).
Moses returned brilliantly from a foot injury on Easter Monday, setting up four tries against Luai’s Tigers.
Luai has been performing to an elite level since his arrival at Concord this year from the four-time grand final winning Panthers.
Daley has previously said he would certainly consider two halves – Cleary and Moses – as his scrumbase combination.
Moses established himself as a genuine NSW champion over two Origin games last year, posting four try assists in game two at the MCG before scoring a match-winning try in the Brisbane decider.
Since 2020, Cleary and Luai won 77 of 88 games together as Penrith’s halves for a stunning NRL success rate of 88 per cent.
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