Former dual-code international Lote Tuqiri has put Roosters coach Trent Robinson on blast for his response to Spencer Leniu's alleged racist slur.
Leniu will front the NRL's judiciary after Broncos players accused him of calling young Indigenous five-eighth Ezra Mam a "monkey" on Sunday.
The incident overshadowed the NRL's historic season opening double header in Las Vegas and now threatens recruit Leniu's short-term availability for the Roosters.
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And while several players and commentators spoke out against Leniu post-match, his coach opted to take a different tact.
"I can't have any opinion on it, I don't know what happened," Robinson told media.
Told that Mam was adamant the comment had been made, Robinson said: "That doesn't mean it's right.
"He obviously made the complaint but that doesn't mean it's right.
"It will go through the formal process as it should."
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But that response didn't sit well with Tuqiri.
"If a player says he's been racially vilified on a footy field, it's happened!!" the former Wallabies and Kangaroos player posted on X.
"You can mask it and 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 and accuses Ezra of not being right.
https://twitter.com/LoteTuqiri/status/1764277227544625311?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"(The 'doesn't mean it's right' comment) 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."
In March last year Robinson took it upon himself to apologise to Latrell Mitchell – a two-time Roosters premiership winner turned South Sydney star – after a fan wearing a Chooks jersey racially abused the latter.
The incident happened when the Rabbitohs were playing the Panthers in Penrith, but the abuser was said to be wearing a Roosters kit at the time.
"It's really disappointing because we don't represent the Roosters in that way. That's not how we want to act as Roosters," Robinson said.
"Whether we like it or not, they were wearing our colours. We have to accept that, but that doesn't make them a Rooster.
"If you want to act like that, abuse people and do it racially like that, then that's not who we are and that's not who we want to be. We need to get better than that.
"It's pretty standard for some people who are casual racists, and some people are overt like it was last night. That's still where we're at."
Leniu joined the Roosters over the off-season after leaving Penrith.
Sunday was his first regular season game for his new club.
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