Johnathan Thurston has addressed his fiery incident with Spencer Leniu, stating it left him "shocked".
After the Roosters' 26-16 win over the Broncos on Friday night, Leniu approached Thurston and voiced his disapproval of comments previously made by the former Queensland and Australian representative in relation to the Ezra Mam racism incident in Las Vegas last year.
Leniu was heavily punished by the NRL for calling Mam a monkey during a game.
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There has been suggestion the car-crash incident involving Mam was behind the confrontation, possibly that Thurston had criticised Leniu, but not spoken out directly against Mam.
Mam was involved in a head-on crash with an Uber driver and later pleaded guilty to drug driving, leading to a nine-match suspension from the NRL.
On Saturday morning, Leniu took to social media to give his side of the story.
"I never wanted to talk to the JT," Leniu wrote.
"He kept trying to come speak to me!
"I said, 'Lad idc (I don't care) if you hate me for what I did. But don't come up to me asking questions like we're all good.
"Don't be two face.
"Hate me lad I'm 'eetswa' (sweet) with that.
"But don't be fake.
"I hate fake people."
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In a statement, Thurston said he stood by his opinion on the incident between Leniu and Mam before detailing what happened on Friday night.
"As Spencer left the field during last night's match he made an abusive comment to me, which took me and those around me by surprise," he said.
"The comment was not of a racial nature but was overly aggressive in tone and unwarranted. After the match I approached Spencer on the field to seek clarity on what he said and why he had said it. Spencer was again overly aggressive and it became clear that he had interpreted the comments I made 12 months ago as a personal attack on him which was not the case.
"A further conversation took place later with Roosters officials and Spencer outside the sheds. I remain available if Spencer or the Roosters would like to discuss this matter privately."
A Nine spokesperson said Thurston and those who witnessed the incident are the priority.
"Having a respectful workplace for all our people at Nine is important no matter if they're in the office or working live on a sports broadcast," he said.
"Our first priority right now is Johnathan and the wider crew that were working at the game in Brisbane to ensure they have the support they need both now and going forward."
Post-game, Roosters coach Trent Robinson confirmed his knowledge of a "discussion" between Leniu and Thurston but urged to the media to "be careful" about how the narrative is shaped.
"There's a discussion there, but from what I saw there wasn't any crossing the line there," Robinson said.
"I don't know why – Spencer, he didn't go and approach anybody. I don't know why you're trying to put it on Spence here , you guys are trying to put it on Spencer here.
"This is the way the questions are coming, you guys just have got to be careful the way that you guys are asking questions as well.
"I don't think it's on anyone, I think it is a discussion between two men. So cool your jets when it comes to accusations around somebody, the way you guys are questioning there you've already formed an opinion.
"Two guys having a conversation, it might get heated. But nothing wrong was said, as far as I know, and it was about an incident and that's OK for guys to have that conversation."
Asked if the Mam racism incident was motivation for Leniu in his return against the Broncos, Robinson said: "Not that I know of.
"It wasn't mentioned at all.
"I thought he was outstanding, he played with the intensity and the control that he needed. I thought he was great there. People will always have differences of opinion and you can voice that.
"It's OK to say I don't agree with you on both ends."
Leniu was found guilty of calling Broncos Indigenous player Ezra Mam a monkey and banned for eight weeks last year.
At the time, Thurston said the punishment was too lenient.
"The NRL had a great opportunity to make a stand, not only for the game but for society as well," Thurston said on Nine's Today last year.
"I think the game has failed in this instance. I don't think the eight weeks is sufficient for what has been said and the mental scars that have been brought up with what our culture has endured since colonisation. It was a great opportunity to go 12 weeks as a blanket ban for all racial vilification if you are found guilty."
