Manase Fainu - Discussion

[ManlyTragic]

There are/ were a lot of players with potential that have done dumb thing that have jeopardise their career.

 

[frank stokes]

There are/ were a lot of players with potential that have done dumb thing that have jeopardise their career.

To be fair, I reckon this is right up there in the running for stupidest way to throw a career away…

“Climbing a wall whilst wearing a sling to knife a bloke at a church dance over some other bloke’s debt”…

That sentence does not seem legit no matter how many times I see/hear it…

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

It's only in 30 years when he wakes up living in a sithole with no money in the bank and his 'Bros' (I'm not refering to his actual brothers here) all either dead, in jail or on meth that he will understand the gravity of his actions.

 

[XV-1]

Former NRL star Manase Fainu’s appeal against stabbing conviction​

Former NRL Manase Fainu has made a surprising argument in his bid to have his conviction quashed for stabbing a man outside a church dance.

Former NRL star Manase Fainu has argued another man may have been wielding the knife during the bloody stabbing outside a church that landed him in jail.

The 24-year-old was sentenced to eight years behind bars for stabbing a youth leader during a bloody brawl outside a Mormon church dance in October 2019.
A jury found that he had plunged a steak knife into the back of Faamanu Levi at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Wattle Grove in southwestern Sydney.
The 10cm blade punctured Mr Levi’s lungs and caused internal bleeding.
Fainu then swung the knife upwards and slashed a deep cut through the victim’s eyebrow.

Former NRL star Manase Fainu is appealing his conviction for stabbing a man outside a church dance in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles
The former rugby league rising star pleaded not guilty to the charge of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and continues to deny the allegations.
On Friday, he appeared in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal to contest the “unreasonable verdict” handed down by the jury last year.
His barrister Mike Smith argued there was still a question of whether the knife had been in Fainu’s possession at the time of the stabbing.
He argued it was possible one of the other men was holding the knife that stabbed Mr Levi, or that more than one knife was involved in the brawl.
Mr Smith said the evidence about the identity of the man wielding the knife was “to be kind, a little unclear” and noted the witnesses had time to influence each other before giving their statements to police.
Crown prosecutor Emma Curran refuted the suggestions and highlighted the evidence of two eyewitnesses to the brawl who saw the knife in Fainu’s hand.
“Both of them gave evidence that the person with the knife was the person with the sling,” she said.
“There is no evidence that anyone else was observed to be wearing a sling on that night and no evidence that anyone else in the melee was armed with a knife.”

He had his arm in a sling when he stabbed the man. Picture: Matt Blyth/Getty Images

He was sentenced to eight years in jail. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

During the trial, eyewitness Tony Quach testified he saw Fainu looking angry and clutching a steak knife in one hand while his other arm was in a sling.
He said he had seen the former Manly Sea Eagles player plunge the knife into Mr Levi’s back in the church parking lot during the bloody affray.
Mr Smith opined Mr Quach’s evidence was “so inadequate” and “so insufficient” that the jury should not have returned a guilty verdict.
He said the account of witness Kupi Toilalo contradicted Mr Quach’s crucial testimony by providing a “radically different” account of events and where the brawlers were positioned.
Given the violent melee took place in a cramped space in between two cars, he maintained the person wielding the knife would not have been able to slip past Mr Quach.
Yet the crown prosecutor noted that relying more heavily on Mr Toilalo’s evidence of where the man with the knife stood in the brawl did not exonerate Fainu.
She said the eyewitness “had an unobstructed view” of a man with his arm in a sling who was holding a knife, just moments before it was announced Mr Levi had been stabbed.

Eyewitness Tony Quach said he saw Fainu stabbing the victim. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

In addition to the numerous statements from witnesses, Ms Curran said CCTV footage of Fainu arriving and leaving was also “damaging” to his case.
“This isn’t a case that rested on the evidence of Mr Quach and only Mr Quach,” she said.
“The applicant’s guilt is, we say, plainly established beyond reasonable doubt.”
The CCTV showed Fainu and four of his friends arriving at a car park adjacent to the Mormon church and jumping over the fence into the church grounds.
Fainu testified he went to the dance to help one of his friends, Uona “Big Buck” Faingaa, collect money he was owed by a man for a concreting job.
Mr Smith noted the CCTV did not show the former NRL hooker holding a knife either before or after the violent brawl.
Supreme Court Justices Mark Leeming, Natalie Adams, and Hament Dhanji will hand down their decision at a later date.
Fainu was at one time considered one of the best young hooker in the NRL but he has not played since he was charged over the stabbing in late 2019.

CCTV footage showing Manase Fainu jumping a fence into a Mormon church dance shortly before the brawl.

The stabbing cut his career short at a time when legendary former Manly Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler said the hooker “had the world at his feet”.
“I have absolutely no doubt that he was destined for greatness,” the NRL coaching great said in a statement read in court when the player was sentenced.
He believed Fainu, like other young athletes, had experienced a “Superman Complex” which meant he thought he could not be harmed and which was exacerbated by the pressure of elite sport.
Earlier this year, it emerged that the 24-year-old was sharing a cell with fellow disgraced NRL player Jarryd Hayne at the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre in Sydney’s northwest.
Originally published as Former NRL star Manase Fainu’s appeal against stabbing conviction

Is this called dobbing in one of your mates without actually naming him.

Would have been better if they all went to the party with their arms in slings. Then there may have been confusion.

Appeal dismissed

 

[Bearfax]

I'll be very surprised if he is successful in his appeal, but then there are probably all sorts of unknowns here. The evidence though was pretty damning.

 

[47MVEagle]

This (IMO) implies he knows who actually did it but doesn’t want to name them.

The stupidity of remaining loyal to a ‘mate’ who’s happy to let you take the rap for his actions is so ironic.

At the very least, it would still make Manase an accomplice to the stabbing & also withholding evidence, so he’s only got himself to blame.

 

[Rocky]

I'll preface what I'm going to say by making it clear it is way down the pecking order in terms of bad outcomes in what has happened with Manase and the victim in this case etc..

But from a secondary selfish point of view, I'm really disappointed not to see what sort of player he would have become. He was an incredibly unique player.

 

[Ryan]

With all the crap happening with Manly and The Tigers ATM, he'd likely be heading there with his three brothers anyways.

I'd rather not talk about the felon any longer. A dickhead is a dickhead. I can't fathom how a church goer gets stabbed, how him, or his family feel. Awful, awful gang crap, that's unnecessary and immature.

 

[Eagle 1]

With all the crap happening with Manly and The Tigers ATM, he'd likely be heading their with his three brothers anyways.

I'd rather not talk about the felon any longer. A dickhead is a dickhead. I can't fathom how a church goer gets stabbed, how him, or his family feel. Awful, awful gang crap, that's unnecessary and immature.

He let a lot of Silvertail/Manly supporters down who genuinely thought he was innocent. Then when the final findings of the case came out and what was the real story, well, I think it surprised many on here and we all duly switched off from him from that moment on.

 

[swoop]

He's not getting out anytime soon IMO.

 

[ManlyTragic]

I often wonder how his victim is coping!

Just sayin’

 

[conanu]

He single handedly ruined, Des's 2nd stint at Manly and our chances at a title for 5 to 10 years, we are now in this messy phase of re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic when we could have kept Api and there is a good chance Des would have got us back to the top. Instead Manase decided to hang out with dickheads and pretty much closed a burgeoning premiership window. Thanks Manase!

 

[eaglebuzz]

He single handedly ruined, Des's 2nd stint at Manly and our chances at a title for 5 to 10 years, we are now in this messy phase of re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic when we could have kept Api and there is a good chance Des would have got us back to the top. Instead Manase decided to hang out with dickheads and pretty much closed a burgeoning premiership window. Thanks Manase!

Yep, the lack of a top class hooker is the biggest reason why we have been so crap for so long. Croker tries his guts out but he's not a hooker.

If we'd kept Koriosau we could have won at least one premiership by now, in my opinion. Probably 2021.

 

[JenEagle]

Ye

Yep, the lack of a top class hooker is the biggest reason why we have been so crap for so long. Croker tries his guts out but he's not a hooker.

If we'd kept Koriosau we could have won at least one premiership by now, in my opinion. Probably 2021.

yep agree. After 2019 we were really building but having no hooker destroyed us

 

[manly al]

Still a bit of an unknown how Manase 's shoulder would have held up if he was acquitted , seemed to be having a heap of problems trying to get it better in the recovery phase and having one setback after another .
Maybe it would have come good eventually but still no guarantee that it would not have become a longer term problem with any return to resume playing .
Also still had Turbo 's lack of availability and Schuster"s unreliable form to reduce any Manly premiership opportunity in conjunction with Manase 's absence .
May have been able to get some good value from Koula at the back but then weakening a centre position .
A fit and dynamic Manase available would certainly have boosted Manly in recent seasons but again unfortunately also a few other factors working against them with a couple of other key and highly paid players either not available for long periods or simply not producing

 

[ManlyTragic]

Still a bit of an unknown how Manase 's shoulder would have held up if he was acquitted , seemed to be having a heap of problems trying to get it better in the recovery phase and having one setback after another .
Maybe it would have come good eventually but still no guarantee that it would not have become a longer term problem with any return to resume playing .
Also still had Turbo 's lack of availability and Schuster"s unreliable form to reduce any Manly premiership opportunity in conjunction with Manase 's absence .
May have been able to get some good value from Koula at the back but then weakening a centre position .
A fit and dynamic Manase available would certainly have boosted Manly in recent seasons but again unfortunately also a few other factors working against them with a couple of other key and highly paid players either not available for long periods or simply not producing

…. And the pride jersey fiasco!

Just sayin’

 

[eagleron]

Ye

yep agree. After 2019 we were really building but having no hooker destroyed us

For the life of me I really can't understand why the club didn't address the hooker problem years ago, as has been said Froggy does as well as his skillset allows but in order to compete against the good sides you need a quality 9, we should have gone to the market as soon as Manase was charged and stood down, it's the main reason we've struggled against the top sides for so long, maybe Gordy will prove to be the solution, he's got the speed and obvious skills to do the job, I think Froggy would make a good 14 going forward and would lengthen his career imo

 

[NYEagle]

Still a bit of an unknown how Manase 's shoulder would have held up if he was acquitted , seemed to be having a heap of problems trying to get it better in the recovery phase and having one setback after another .
Maybe it would have come good eventually but still no guarantee that it would not have become a longer term problem with any return to resume playing .
Also still had Turbo 's lack of availability and Schuster"s unreliable form to reduce any Manly premiership opportunity in conjunction with Manase 's absence .
May have been able to get some good value from Koula at the back but then weakening a centre position .
A fit and dynamic Manase available would certainly have boosted Manly in recent seasons but again unfortunately also a few other factors working against them with a couple of other key and highly paid players either not available for long periods or simply not producing

I imagine the shoulder should is now well rested, but him being available as a whole is entirely another matter. In the end he will be supported by his family of footy players and he will choose to do a trade or something.

Can’t blame Manly for putting faith in such people who have let them down so spectacularly, but one hopes with such a like culture building in the club that that there are some clauses in place to cover Manly against any signs of such behaviour again. We all know it is still there from the postcode signals sent during Manly games last year.

There is just no place for this hate and discrimination. If they play for Manly it’s time to grow up fast or ship out.

NYEagle

 

[nightster]

He single handedly ruined, Des's 2nd stint at Manly and our chances at a title for 5 to 10 years, we are now in this messy phase of re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic when we could have kept Api and there is a good chance Des would have got us back to the top. Instead Manase decided to hang out with dickheads and pretty much closed a burgeoning premiership window. Thanks Manase!

He was gang leader, no? ... Head dickhead

 

[double hoops]

If the ref says forward pass, which it wasn't. Then the best thing you can do, is move on and focus on defending and getting that ball back. Dwelling on the past and feeling hard done by. All it achieves is not being fully focused on the here and now.

Nase threw his career away. Time to play on.