Paul Kent slams NRL over Spencer Leniu’s racism ban, claiming governing body succumbed to pressure ‘to be politically correct’

Paul Kent has criticized the NRL’s handling of the Spencer Leniu racism scandal, arguing the Roosters star has been handed an eight-match ban in a harsh manner.

Leniu, 23, was handed the lengthy ban following a hearing at the NRL judiciary on Monday, where he pleaded guilty in Las Vegas earlier this month to calling Broncos rival Ezra Mam a ‘monkey’.

The case has sparked debate in the football world, with Souths star Latrell Mitchell calling for Leniu to miss half the season for the blemish – which would have been one of the harshest punishments in the history of the game.

Johnathan Thurston echoed these sentiments, claiming that Leniu should have been handed a 12-match ban.

But Fox League pundit Kent said the saga “exposed the confusion in the game” and said a stiff penalty would be too harsh a sanction compared to some of the sport’s most egregious acts.

Spencer Leniu was handed an eight-match ban for his “monkey” slur

“We lose all reason for emotion all the time – and that’s what we did in this case,” Kent said on NRL360.

“Eight weeks, if you go back to the toughest penalties of the NRL era, they’re all violent offenses for these types of penalties. For a twelve-week sentence, they are all violent sentences. This isn’t that.

“No one is justifying what he did, but I also think there’s a bit of perspective lost in all of this because people are so emotional about it.”

Fellow expert David Riccio pushed back on Kent’s opinion, arguing that eight weeks “sends a message.”

But Kent was not convinced: ‘Four weeks is a message. What message?’

Riccio replied, “That the game won’t last.”

“When has the game ever been like this?” Kent responded.

‘I thought he (Leniu) was going to walk in for eight weeks, whatever he said.

‘I think there’s so much pressure on the NRL to be politically correct and please the general public and give the impression that it’s a game that doesn’t stand for this, when rugby league has always been at the forefront of fight against racism,” says Kent. continued.

But Kent says it wasn’t right for people like Latrell Mitchell to express their opinions freely

He also claimed that Leniu’s suspension was harsh and that four weeks was more appropriate

“No one denies that it exists and that it has existed in the game just like everywhere else. But rugby league has been the game that has led the way, as the first indigenous player to ever play for his country was a rugby league player, and the first indigenous player to ever captain the country was a rugby league person .’

Responding to Thurston’s disappointment over Leniu’s eight-match suspension, Kent said: ‘Give us a reason why.

‘He is already the strongest, but for some people that is not enough. Give us a reason why. I’ll come up with a reason, come to the show and tell us why.

“But don’t just sit there because it’s a time to complain and state your position and make your case so you have to make a noise that whatever happens isn’t good enough.”

Kent also called for players to be fined for sharing their views on live NRL trials.

“A coach can’t say ‘s***’ at a press conference without getting fined,” Kent said.

‘Come on. Show some courage, seriously. If you want to stand for something, if you want to be a game that brings out all these values ​​that you keep telling us in the good times, then stand for it in the bad times too.”