Manly players called out for supporting convicted teammate after refusing to wear pride jersey

A veteran journalist has called out Manly Sea Eagles players for supporting a convicted teammate, after they refused to wear a pride jersey.

Manly players called out over support.

Journalist Paul Kent has hit out at the Manly players who showed their support for disgraced NRL star Manase Fainu.

Fainu was jailed on Monday over the stabbing a Mormon church youth leader. The violent attack took place outside a Sydney church in October, 2019.

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Despite the career-ending guilty verdict, his old Manly Sea Eagles teammates Josh Schuster, Josh Aloiai and Haumole Olakau’atu were quick to throw their weight behind him over the weekend, with Olakau’atu using a try celebration to back the locked up player.

Kent took issue with all three players supporting Fainu, after they two weeks ago refused to wear a rainbow-coloured jersey to show support for the LGBTI community and stood themselves down from playing on religious grounds.

“This is the issue … is it protest or is it support?” Kent said on NRL360.

“Because only a couple of weeks ago we were here on this show, particularly me, defending the values of Olakau’atu and a few of the players at that club for their stance with the pride jersey and I said whether you like it or not they follow a Christian faith and they are defending that faith.

“A fortnight later they’re now coming out in support of a guy who has just been convicted of stabbing a bloke essentially.

“You can’t have it both ways with these guys and the NRL and the postcode gang wars in Sydney at the moment are costing lives, literally. There was a stabbing at the Easter show earlier this year, the police have got involved with players particularly from Penrith and Parramatta Jarome Luai, Brian To’o, Nathan Cleary and Junior Paulo have all been exceptional in the time and support they’ve given the program.

“Whether these blokes are aware of it or not they are contributing to the problem. And to have some sort of social conscious in the game which they tried to exhibit a few weeks ago whether you agree with it or not and we came out in support of their right to follow their own faith, here they are a fortnight later in support of a guy who’s about to go to jail for stabbing a bloke in a fight that was born out of a gang fight based on these postcodes.”

Manly players showed support for Manase Fainu.

Fellow journalist Paul Crawley said the league has to bring a harder stance on stamping out any gang-related indiscretions.

“They’re using the NRL and Fox as a stage to show their support. That’s where it’s wrong, that’s where the game has to be tough,” Crawley said.

“There’s concern that at some clubs there is gang culture and Manly is one of them and you have to stamp it out, that’s where the game has to be tough.”

After Olakau’atu scored a try against the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday he flashed the numbers ‘61’ (a reference to the 2161 Guildford postcode he grew up in with Fainu) and held his hands together appearing to imitate handcuffs.

A clip of the try celebration, which was moments later ruled out over a knock-on, was then shared by western Sydney rapper and alleged senior member of the Alameddine gang Ali ‘Ay Huncho’ Younes.

“6 side king,” wrote Younes, tagging Fainu and Olakau’atu.

Schuster also showed his support for Fainu, with the initials MF scribbled on his wrist. “See ya soon my toko (brother in Tongan),” he shared on Instagram.

Josh Schuster scribbled the initials MF on his wrist during Sunday’s season-ending loss to the Titans, and took to Instagram to declare ‘see you soon my toko’. Picture: Instagram

Warriors star Addin Fonua-Blake, who is a close friend of Fainu and played with him at Manly, also appeared to deliver a personal message to the convicted criminal ahead of his jailing on Monday. Picture: NRL

Devout Christian Josh Aloiai, who met with concerned teammates just weeks back to explain his moral opposition to the rainbow jersey, has made no secret of his close connection to Fainu.

The star prop supported Fainu throughout the trial and uploaded a photo outside court with Fainu three days ago. He captioned the photo with a love heart and disabled all comments.

On Sunday night as Fainu gathered with mates for a barbecue ahead of his jailing, he issued a shoutout to his close friend thanking him for his support.

“Thank you uso (Samoan for brother), #LastSupper,” Fainu wrote on Instagram, tagging Aloiai while showing off a selection of meat understood to have been supplied by the Manly star.

New Zealand Warriors forward Addin Fonua-Blake, who played with Fainu at Manly, also appeared to pay tribute to the troubled hooker as he celebrated a late try during an upset win against the Bulldogs on Friday.

Fainu jailed for church stabbing, vows to launch appeal

A jury took just two hours to find Fainu guilty of plunging a steak knife into the back of Faamanu Levi at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Wattle Grove in October, 2019.

Following the verdict last week, Crown prosecutor Emma Curran made an immediate detention application, however it was not able to be heard by District Court Judge Nanette Williams until Monday.

Fainu’s barrister, Margaret Cunneen SC, on Monday morning fought the move for him to be immediately sent to jail while he awaits sentencing, arguing he needed time to prepare financially and mentally.

Under the state’s new bail laws, a defendant who is facing inevitable fulltime imprisonment must demonstrate “special or exceptional circumstances” to remain on bail while they await sentencing.

And Judge Williams said she was not satisfied that had been demonstrated by Fainu.

Fainu, wearing a grey suit and blue and white tie, was placed in handcuffs by sheriffs, hugged Ms Cunneen and waved to family members as he was led away.

But his solicitor Paul McGirr said the “wheels are in motion” in preparing an appeal.

Outside court, Mr McGirr described the verdict as “dangerous”.

Throughout the trial, Fainu had argued it was a case of mistaken identity.

His legal team had said that key witnesses were swayed after they were shown social media pictures of the Tongan international in a sling in the hours following the incident.

Mr McGirr told NCA NewsWire that Fainu would not launch his appeal until after he was sentenced later in the year, but that he would challenge the verdict in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

“The judge’s directions were very fair, especially in regards to scrutinising identification,” Mr McGirr said.

He also said they believed the case involved a number of people all talking, not knowing who was who and looking up Facebook and Instagram and everything else.

“And to me, that’s very dangerous ground – when people are telling other people who’s who.”

– With NCA NewsWire