NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo says an alleged on-field racial slur directed at Ezra Mam will be taken "very seriously" while a former player has accused Roosters coach Trent Robinson of "gaslighting" in his comments post-match.
Speaking from the US, Abdo confirmed there will be a hearing into the alleged incident after Leniu was referred directly to the league's judiciary.
During the second half of the Roosters-Broncos game, Mam made a formal complaint to referee Adam Gee claiming Leniu called him a 'monkey' during play.
After South Sydney fullback Latrell Mitchell was targeted by a young fan during an away game in Penrith last march, Abdo said it was "absolutely abhorrent" for a player to receive racial vilification.
On Sunday, Abdo had backed up those comments.
"It was really disappointing to be talking about something of this nature," he said, AAP reports.
"There is no place for discrimination of any kind. We take it very, very seriously.
"I can't talk about the specifics of what happened last night. The player involved involved has been charged and then referred directly to the judiciary.
"We will respect that process and won't make comments."
A number of former and current league stars have expressed their support for Mam.
After Laniu told Triple M the alleged incident was "all fun and games" and that he was "not worried at all" in a post-match interview, Souths half Cody Walker quizzed the comments in a post to his social media.
Bunnies teammate Latrell Mitchell joined him, writing "I stand with you Bala" and pressing the NRL to "deal with this shit" while sharing a post from Mam's personal account originally posted during the league's Indigenous Round last year.
Speaking post-match, Broncos teammate Reece Walsh told Nine News: "It's disgusting to still have that stuff in our game."
"I really feel for one of my good mates. It's heat of the moment, and we understand that, but it's not good enough," Walsh said.
"What (Mam) does in the community for young kids is phenomenal. There's not someone out there who is more proud of their culture, and proud to be who they are.
"It's 2024, our game is built on some amazing people and for that stuff to happen, it takes the shine out of us trying to build something over here."
On Monday, Gold Coast Titans centre Brian Kelly commended Ezra for reporting the alleged incident to the referee at the time, and said those kinds of incidents need to be "stamped out".
"We're here as one so let's just build each other up instead of tearing each other down..definitely stamp that out and move forward from it and learn from it…you've got to call it out, otherwise there's no change," Kelly said.
Fijian-born former Tiger, Bronco and Bunny NRL player and rugby international with the Wallabies Lote Tuqiri slammed comments he perceived to be "gaslighting" from Roosters coach Trent Robinson.
After Broncos coach Kevin Walters said Mam was "upset" and "adamant" about what he heard on the field, Robinson said "that doesn't mean it's right".
"He (Mam) obviously made the complaint, but that doesn't mean that it's right and it'll go through the formal process as it should," Robinson said in his post-match press conference.
Tuquri took to Twitter with his own views.
"If a player says he's been racially villified on a footy field, it's happened!! You can mask it & say it's in the heat of the battle, etc etc. But I don't get how Trent Robinson sits in a post match press conference & accuses Ezra of not being right," he wrote.
"(That) is some sort of gaslighting rubbish I didn't think would come out of Trent Robinson's mouth. Especially after the great way he handled Latrell's abuse from his own fans last year. I'm behind Ezra all the way calling this stuff out."
It's understood a heated verbal exchange between Roosters and Broncos players kicked off in a Las Vegas hotel after the game.
According to reports, it could be up to nine days before Leniu faces the judiciary at their next scheduled meeting following the completion of round one this weekend.
