Spencer Leniu could avoid sanction for his sideline tirade at Johnathan Thurston, despite the Sydney Roosters prop doubling down on his expletive-laden shot at the rugby league great.
Less than 12 hours after allegedly calling Thurston a "f***wit", Leniu took to social media on Saturday morning to accuse him of being two-faced and "fake".
Thurston has since responded to state he was "shocked" by Leniu's on-field outburst, which he labelled as "overly aggressive in nature and unwarranted".
AAP understands the NRL is not investigating the issue and won't do so unless the Nine Network or Thurston make a formal complaint.
At this stage, neither have done so.
Friday night's sideline drama continued the ugly fallout from last year's Las Vegas racism saga, where Leniu admitted to calling Indigenous star Ezra Mam a monkey.
Leniu was subsequently handed an eight-game ban, with Thurston at the time calling for blanket 12-match suspensions for any player found guilty of a racial slur.
Leniu first clashed with Thurston while being interchanged in the second half of the Roosters' 26-16 win over Brisbane on Friday night, with Thurston working on the sidelines for Nine.
Thurston approached Leniu after the match to clarify the issue, prompting a second verbal barrage.
Footage of that confrontation appears to show an agitated Leniu pointing his fingers while talking to Thurston, as a Roosters staffer tries to calm him. Teammate Siua Wong eventually pulls the prop away.
Thurston then walks away, with sources close to the 41-year-old claiming Leniu called him a "f***wit", and with the former half understood to have been rattled by the incident.
Friday night's match marked the first time Leniu had played the Broncos since the Vegas incident, and he was booed as he walked from the field before the spat.
The Samoan international then took to Instagram on Saturday morning to hit out at reporting on the affair, before unleashing further shots at Thurston.
"I never wanted to talk to the JT, he kept trying to come speak to me," Leniu posted in a story on the social media site.
"I said 'Lad idc (I don't care) if that you hate me for what I did. But don't come up to me asking me questions like we're Algood (sic).
"Don't be two face (sic). Hate me lad I'm eetswa (sweet) with that. But don't be fake. I hate fake people."
It's understood Leniu had been upset by Thurston speaking about the racial slur on a podcast aired during last year's finals.
Thurston issued a statement of his own to his employers Nine on Saturday, saying he was taken by surprise when Leniu made an "abusive comment" as he walked off the field.
"After the match, I approached Spencer on the field to seek clarity on what he said and why he had said it," Thurston said in the statement.
"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."
Thurston also confirmed on Saturday that Leniu's comments against him were "not of a racial nature".
Leniu had earlier on Friday been involved in one of the more heated moments of the match, when he launched an off-the-ball hit at Kotoni Staggs after a high tackle.
The Roosters prop was cautioned over the incident, but not sin-binned by referee Peter Gough.
Leniu and Staggs had been involved in a verbal altercation in the corridor of a Las Vegas hotel last year, in the hours after the Mam slur.
Indigenous legend Thurston was due to conduct post-match interviews in the Roosters' sheds, but Nine colleague Cameron Smith replaced him.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson also defended Leniu after the match.
