Moses ‘The Motor’ Leota believes that may be the first time he’s ever run hot. Of course, Spencer Leniu wants to see more of it.
Leota, who began his career in Penrith’s juniors coated in concrete from his day job as a brickie’s labourer, controlled the first 20 minutes of last year’s grand final with a series of powerful knocks against the Eels’ large pack.
In week one of the championships, he matched the Warriors’ power-packed shots with some lip service as Addin Fonua-Blake got under his skin, cutting free after repeated collisions with the Tongan Test star at Blue Bet Stadium two weeks ago.
“I don’t know what happened,” Leota joked ahead of Friday’s preliminary final versus Melbourne and man mountain Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
“To be honest, that was perhaps the first time I’d ever turned red. [Fonua-Blake] just pushed me a little, without saying anything. I’m not sure why, but it sort of tipped me over.
“I won’t say it again; we were just talking shit to each other.” A little ‘Your run, come on’.
“That was all it was, but I wanted to go into him, and he reciprocated. It was a good time and a good battle. He’s been one of the top front-rowers in the game, and my game is simply run hard and tackle hard, so that’s what we were doing, with a little extra.”
Leota’s verbal altercation with Fonua-Blake was more in line with Leniu’s fiery attitude to the game, which he will bring to the Roosters next year in search of a regular starting berth.
Kiwi enforcer James Fisher-Harris is widely regarded as one of the game’s top front-rowers, but Penrith confirmed Leota’s position in their pecking order with a three-year deal earlier this year.
Leniu praised the softly spoken 28-year-old as “the most underrated prop in the NRL” and, naturally, advised Leota to embrace more of his own fire and brimstone attitude.
“He’s certainly one of the most in-form props, but you never hear about him that way. I suppose he’d prefer it that way.
“Moses and Fish [Fisher-Harris] take the same vitamins and protein smoothies, and wrestling them is like wrestling straight rock. I try to deliver it to them, but Moses just smashes me.
“He’s from the same area as most of us, and you don’t see that in him very often. But Moses has a ‘never back down’ mentality, which manifested itself with Fonua-Blake. It was nice to see him. “More of it.”
