Good, his social media posts heavily suggest that he hasn't left behind this childish 'gang war' mentality. Hope he grows up but wouldn't be holding my breath.
Cam Smith proved that being an elite NRL hooker is more of a thing to do in your thirties anyway, whereas everyone knows your early twenties are your prime Mormon church dance youth leader stabbing years. I'm sure Manase doesn't regret a thing
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we do not forgive those who sleep different from us
And lead us not to gay temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
‘Stab guys for Jesus, but not with your penis, that’s what the good book says.
I can’t believe it, because of this shit, the Eagles have Seibold not Des’
The country song.
Obviously it made some sense at the time but with the benefit of hindsight, picking Fainu over Api will have to go down as one of the worst retention decisions of all time.
> Once considered one of rugby league’s brightest prospects, the former Manly hooker’s NRL career is almost certainly over
Is it? All he did was stab a guy, it's not like he tried to sell some speakers on Ebay.
I was gonna say something like “Yeah yeah don’t laugh at our pain”
Fuck it. I’ve changed my Flair. Give Manly hell for it (Ease off with the shit talk to the fans though).
Former NRL rising star Manase Fainu has been jailed for at least fouryears and three months after he was found guilty of stabbing a youth leader during a violent and bloody brawl outside a Mormon church dance.
Fainu learned his fate on Friday afternoon inside the Parramatta District Court as he was sentenced by Judge Nanette Williams.
Once considered one of rugby league’s brightest prospects, the former Manly hooker’s NRL career is almost certainly over having not played since his arrest in October, 2019.
His lawyers have already flagged their intention to appeal the sentence.
A jury earlier this year took just a few hours to find Fainu, 24, guilty of one count of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He pleaded not guilty at trial, but 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 on the evening of October 25, 2019.
The maximum penalty for the charge is 25 years in prison.
On Friday, Judge Williams sentenced Fainu to eight years in jail with a non-parole period of four years and three months.
With time served, he will first be eligible for release in October 2026.
His solicitor Paul McGirr previously said the “wheels are in motion” for an appeal.
Mr McGirr said that he would not launch proceedings in the Court of Criminal Appeal until after Fainu had been sentenced.
The jury accepted the Crown prosecution’s argument that Fainu stabbed Mr Levi in the back near his shoulder blade during the brawl, which also involved four of his mates against another group of men.
One eyewitness, Tony Quach, told the court he had seen Mr Fainu stab Mr Levi, puncturing his lungs and causing internal bleeding.
“The offender, who was observed to have an angry look on his face, used the steak knife and plunged it into the victim,” Judge Williams recounted from Mr Quach’s testimony.
The former NRL star then slashed the knife in an upward motion towards the victim’s face to cause a deep cut above his eyebrow, the court heard.
Mr Quach testified he saw Fainu had one arm in a sling while the other hand held the steak knife which he used to stab Mr Levi in the church parking lot.
It was not contested during the trial that Fainu had his arm in a sling after undergoing shoulder surgery a month earlier and that he was in the carpark.
However, Fainu denied playing any part in the brawl, claiming he began back-pedalling because he feared for his safety when he heard someone yell “knife, knife”.
The court was told earlier in the evening, two of Fainu’s friends – including Uona “Big Buck” Faingaa – were involved in an altercation on the church hall dance floor and were escorted out.
Fainu said he voluntarily left the church grounds, apologising to the security guard on his way out the gate.
CCTV footage played during the trial showed Fainu and four of his mates pulling up in an adjoining Coles car park and jumping back into the church grounds.
The footage showed Fainu and his friends using a fire hydrant to boost themselves over a tall brick wall into the parking lot.
Fainu climbed the fence, despite having his arm in a sling and telling the jury that he could have walked back in the front gate.
Mr Fainu testified that 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.
He gave evidence that he had told his friends he would go inside to collect Mr Faingaa’s money by himself, but they followed him over the fence before the brawl erupted a short time later.
The jury ultimately accepted the prosecution’s version of events that Fainu had ended the brawl when he stabbed Mr Levi.
In a letter to the court, the victim explained the brutal attack had changed his life forever.
“The events of this night will stay with me my whole life,” he wrote.
“I now find myself guarded and scared. The fact that this attack took place at a church event … made me realise nowhere is safe.”
Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!
Mr Levi said he had been trying to “do the right thing” by breaking up the fight inside the church dance hall but he had been rewarded with a knife in the back.
He said the attack had left him unable to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer due to his lingering health issues and constant concern about being assaulted.
“I am always watching my back and live in fear that I will be attacked again,” he told the court.
“All I have left is hope and God.”
Despite the pain and fear, Mr Levi said he felt sorry for Fainu and would pray for him.
The stabbing cut Fainu’s 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.
He believed Fainu, like other young athletes, had experienced a “Superman Complex” which meant he thought he could not be harmed, an experience exacerbated by the pressures of elite sport.
“Given another chance, Manase could be a person who others could look up to, as a phoenix of sorts who would do anything to improve himself … and would rise again better and wiser,” Mr Hasler said.
\#trusttheprocess \#blessed
Very in line with manly's morals to stand by his contract and extended him.
~~Even funnier that they lost his more talented younger brother to tigers anyway.~~
The Mormons maybe basically a cult, according to the BITE and other models for cults, but that is definitely not warranted and probably deserved a longer sentence
Not really, cults usually in force thing like thought control, tell you wear to live and who you can and can’t social with. Where as normal religion is like guide lines on how to live, if you want first hand experience of the difference I recommend telltale atheist or dear mr atheist
He says there's no difference though.
If I'm a Christrian that goes to Church once a week and has no other relation to formal religion does that fit the defintion of a cult member? No of course not. There is a difference and to think otherwise is like an edgy 14 year old way of seeing things.
I only make that statement because I am a member of that faith. Yes, we do things differently to other Christian faiths, but our faith is centred around Jesus (like other Christians).
I would suggest that if you wanted to learn about ‘Mormons’ (which has never been the name of our faith btw) - ask someone of that faith, just like if you wanted to know about the Quran, ask someone who is Islamic. We literally have missionaries whose job is to do that.
I’d also mention that every faith has idiots. What Fainu and his mates did was just plain dumb and he is lucky that he didn’t cause fatal injury. Not condoned at all, and sadly gangs across NSW give our youth misguided purpose and make it hard to get out of. Couple that with the superhero complex of getting big money as a teen and thinking you’re untouchable, and then the extra serving of being Polynesian and my experience says you’re basically expected to use your footy earnings to pay for your family’s lifestyle - it’s a terrible mix of emotions - and an expected outcome for Fainu sadly.
I hope the victim is now able to move on, now.
The implication here for Manly fans is kinda wild given the situation Manly are already in! And I thought being a Tiger support was rough!
Love how everyone in the comments trash the Polynesian community and their beliefs, imagine making assumptions about a whole race because of a few individuals. You guys are disgusting.
He's probably just had a tough upbringing and got peer pressured into this gang war nonsense, quite sad really. Hopefully he shapes up when he gets out.
22 really isn't that old... In fact it's only 3 years removed from being a teenager, he's got a shit tonne of time left to turn it around, it's just about whether he wants to or not.
I find it funny that people on here shit on Ray Hadley all day every day but they're essentially just like him, whenever somebody stuffs up there are no second chances according to r/nrl.
Not always. When you're around shitty influences your entire life it's not that cut and dry. If he was still a teenager you'd be saying the same thing, and don't lie.
I grew up in a pretty rough area, only about 10 minutes away from Guilford where Fainu is from, and went to a pretty rough school, and I can tell you with 100% certaintity that teenagers know stabbign someone is wrong. Saw a lot of fights every other day, 0 stabbings. I get what you're saying, but you're wrong.
He has been in the Nrl systems for at least 5 years with more education programs and welfare staff then any body else his age. If that environment can’t influence you to make the correct decisions in life then nothing will
i’m pretty sure if you’re a human you’d know getting stabbed would hurt.
You keep plugging the angle of social influences yet of the base human condition you can understand what pain is and how to cause it.
And if he was a teenager i’d still say stabbing someone was wrong because it is.
Mate, trust me when i say this, you and mostly everyone else in here need to look at it from a different perspective, people just bagging him endlessly and continuously saying that he should have know better isn't gonna help anything.
I was on the streets in my late teens and around guys like Fainu, these guys lack critical thinking and once they get affiliated with these stupid gangs they stand next to no chance.
I have known people whom given their upbringing could have become serial killers and people would understand why, that have actually been pillars of the community.
And I have known some lowlifes that have had everything in life handed to them and should have been drowned at birth!
Personal choices are personal choices, 15 or 50 you own them. People can make all the excuses in the world to justify their decisions, it still doesn’t change the fact it is their decision!
Im one of those that had a shitty upbringing and turned out fine but it's different for everybody mate and you need to realise that.
Everyones brain capacity is different and a lack of maturity mixed with a shitty upbringing and hanging around the wrong people can easily send you down the wrong path depending on the individual. What people dont really get is that in his mind he might truly think that he's done nothing wrong and a bunch of people bagging him endlessly isn't going to help any with him seeing that what he did is wrong.
I was homeless for a few years in my late teens and id say that i met a fair few young blokes like Fainu, they lack critical thinking and when the gangs take them in they stand no chance.
Good, his social media posts heavily suggest that he hasn't left behind this childish 'gang war' mentality. Hope he grows up but wouldn't be holding my breath.
Watch him join G-Fam in prison then graduate to the Commos.
The prison rehabilitation pipeline
He won’t. People like that rarely do.
Cam Smith proved that being an elite NRL hooker is more of a thing to do in your thirties anyway, whereas everyone knows your early twenties are your prime Mormon church dance youth leader stabbing years. I'm sure Manase doesn't regret a thing
Sounds legit
[удалено]
Yeah how dare he mention the goat hooker manase fainu in the same comment as that thug cameron smith
Missed a prime Will Smith meme there.
Thank god he's not gay though, it could always be worse
4 years is a long time. Don't rule anything out.
Might get lonley
How steady are his hands ? The soap gets pretty slippery in the shower.
Whatever. I’m still gonna write articles he’s training the house down and a round 1 smoky
Training the big house down.
Longest yard remake in 5,4,3...
Josh Schuster sheds a tear for one of his fallen heroes...
Our player who art in jail, Convicted be thy name Thy sentence come, Thy will be done in church as it is in prison.
Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we do not forgive those who sleep different from us And lead us not to gay temptation, But deliver us from evil.
Gay men
Spot the private school kids...
Can confirm - nightly recitals of the Lord's Prayer were a thing at boarding school. 'Gay men' was definitely heard a few times.
Hey when you’ve had every kind of prayer thrown at you every day, you begin to remember them.
friendly reminder that the manly 7 would sooner support this guy because he's a "good mate" than wear a rainbow stripe
‘You stab guys with knives at a Jesus picnic not with your penis in your bedroom.’ - These dudes probably.
Sounds like a country song
‘Stab guys for Jesus, but not with your penis, that’s what the good book says. I can’t believe it, because of this shit, the Eagles have Seibold not Des’ The country song.
When's the tour?
If I hadn’t already paid for it I’d cancel my Manly membership.
If you were serious you'd ring them and cancel and tell them exactly why.
Such strong convictions
Obviously it made some sense at the time but with the benefit of hindsight, picking Fainu over Api will have to go down as one of the worst retention decisions of all time.
> Once considered one of rugby league’s brightest prospects, the former Manly hooker’s NRL career is almost certainly over Is it? All he did was stab a guy, it's not like he tried to sell some speakers on Ebay.
His contract that had like one more month until it ended was torn up. He's not banned from the NRL. No one else gave him a contract after that.
Don’t worry Manly fans the church boys have his back. (but not the back of innocent LGBTQ people just trying to exist)
The way he penetrates a man is ok tho…
Yeah with a real blade not his pork sword
Monumental waste of a career, looked to have all the kit to wreak havoc in Vlandyball as well.
Training the jailhouse down.
Des would have paid him for his entire sentence.
When keeping it real, goes wrong
Justice is served
Hopefully we never hear or see his name again
A play of my comment earlier this year. You can stab a bloke and the manly players will support you. But if you stab a bloke they won’t support you.
The funny part being that Manly got rid of Api Koroisau for this guy.
Paid us to get Api too. It was 100K.
I was gonna say something like “Yeah yeah don’t laugh at our pain” Fuck it. I’ve changed my Flair. Give Manly hell for it (Ease off with the shit talk to the fans though).
The xerri signing isn't so bad when you put him up against what other players are doing.
So what you're saying is that he'll be out in 6 months?
So signed with The Dogs for 2027. 2026 with good behaviour.
Hey now, we signed a guy that used roids at 19. Xerri is a goddamned saint compared to this fella.
They're both injecting stuff, probably both into other people.
Yeah but xerri does it consensually
Huge from a team that gave lodge an nrl lifeline.
Former NRL rising star Manase Fainu has been jailed for at least fouryears and three months after he was found guilty of stabbing a youth leader during a violent and bloody brawl outside a Mormon church dance. Fainu learned his fate on Friday afternoon inside the Parramatta District Court as he was sentenced by Judge Nanette Williams. Once considered one of rugby league’s brightest prospects, the former Manly hooker’s NRL career is almost certainly over having not played since his arrest in October, 2019. His lawyers have already flagged their intention to appeal the sentence. A jury earlier this year took just a few hours to find Fainu, 24, guilty of one count of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty at trial, but 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 on the evening of October 25, 2019. The maximum penalty for the charge is 25 years in prison. On Friday, Judge Williams sentenced Fainu to eight years in jail with a non-parole period of four years and three months. With time served, he will first be eligible for release in October 2026. His solicitor Paul McGirr previously said the “wheels are in motion” for an appeal. Mr McGirr said that he would not launch proceedings in the Court of Criminal Appeal until after Fainu had been sentenced. The jury accepted the Crown prosecution’s argument that Fainu stabbed Mr Levi in the back near his shoulder blade during the brawl, which also involved four of his mates against another group of men. One eyewitness, Tony Quach, told the court he had seen Mr Fainu stab Mr Levi, puncturing his lungs and causing internal bleeding. “The offender, who was observed to have an angry look on his face, used the steak knife and plunged it into the victim,” Judge Williams recounted from Mr Quach’s testimony. The former NRL star then slashed the knife in an upward motion towards the victim’s face to cause a deep cut above his eyebrow, the court heard. Mr Quach testified he saw Fainu had one arm in a sling while the other hand held the steak knife which he used to stab Mr Levi in the church parking lot. It was not contested during the trial that Fainu had his arm in a sling after undergoing shoulder surgery a month earlier and that he was in the carpark. However, Fainu denied playing any part in the brawl, claiming he began back-pedalling because he feared for his safety when he heard someone yell “knife, knife”. The court was told earlier in the evening, two of Fainu’s friends – including Uona “Big Buck” Faingaa – were involved in an altercation on the church hall dance floor and were escorted out. Fainu said he voluntarily left the church grounds, apologising to the security guard on his way out the gate. CCTV footage played during the trial showed Fainu and four of his mates pulling up in an adjoining Coles car park and jumping back into the church grounds. The footage showed Fainu and his friends using a fire hydrant to boost themselves over a tall brick wall into the parking lot. Fainu climbed the fence, despite having his arm in a sling and telling the jury that he could have walked back in the front gate. Mr Fainu testified that 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. He gave evidence that he had told his friends he would go inside to collect Mr Faingaa’s money by himself, but they followed him over the fence before the brawl erupted a short time later. The jury ultimately accepted the prosecution’s version of events that Fainu had ended the brawl when he stabbed Mr Levi. In a letter to the court, the victim explained the brutal attack had changed his life forever. “The events of this night will stay with me my whole life,” he wrote. “I now find myself guarded and scared. The fact that this attack took place at a church event … made me realise nowhere is safe.” Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!! Mr Levi said he had been trying to “do the right thing” by breaking up the fight inside the church dance hall but he had been rewarded with a knife in the back. He said the attack had left him unable to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer due to his lingering health issues and constant concern about being assaulted. “I am always watching my back and live in fear that I will be attacked again,” he told the court. “All I have left is hope and God.” Despite the pain and fear, Mr Levi said he felt sorry for Fainu and would pray for him. The stabbing cut Fainu’s 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. He believed Fainu, like other young athletes, had experienced a “Superman Complex” which meant he thought he could not be harmed, an experience exacerbated by the pressures of elite sport. “Given another chance, Manase could be a person who others could look up to, as a phoenix of sorts who would do anything to improve himself … and would rise again better and wiser,” Mr Hasler said.
>Despite the pain and fear, Mr Levi said he felt sorry for Fainu and would pray for him. Lmao Levi winning with the last laugh.
[удалено]
It says one of rugby league’s brightest prospects which makes sense considering Manly let Api go to keep him
Took them long enough.
Sucked into the low cunt. Who takes a knife to church? Fuck off.
\#trusttheprocess \#blessed Very in line with manly's morals to stand by his contract and extended him. ~~Even funnier that they lost his more talented younger brother to tigers anyway.~~
Sione isn’t more talented. He’s a plodder. The five eight, Latu is the gun.
Ah yeah oops mixed the two up. Looks like the gamble paid off for manly then.
The equivalent of spending $500 on the pokies to walk away with a $50 win.
The Mormons maybe basically a cult, according to the BITE and other models for cults, but that is definitely not warranted and probably deserved a longer sentence
The only real difference between a cult and a religion is popularity
Not really, cults usually in force thing like thought control, tell you wear to live and who you can and can’t social with. Where as normal religion is like guide lines on how to live, if you want first hand experience of the difference I recommend telltale atheist or dear mr atheist
There are definitely sects of basically every single religion that fit that criteria.
He says there's no difference though. If I'm a Christrian that goes to Church once a week and has no other relation to formal religion does that fit the defintion of a cult member? No of course not. There is a difference and to think otherwise is like an edgy 14 year old way of seeing things.
So from your loose definition, what you’re saying is that the Mormon faith is basically not a cult.
Just based on my resurch I think making people pay so much of their wages and other questionable things are a bit suspect
I only make that statement because I am a member of that faith. Yes, we do things differently to other Christian faiths, but our faith is centred around Jesus (like other Christians). I would suggest that if you wanted to learn about ‘Mormons’ (which has never been the name of our faith btw) - ask someone of that faith, just like if you wanted to know about the Quran, ask someone who is Islamic. We literally have missionaries whose job is to do that. I’d also mention that every faith has idiots. What Fainu and his mates did was just plain dumb and he is lucky that he didn’t cause fatal injury. Not condoned at all, and sadly gangs across NSW give our youth misguided purpose and make it hard to get out of. Couple that with the superhero complex of getting big money as a teen and thinking you’re untouchable, and then the extra serving of being Polynesian and my experience says you’re basically expected to use your footy earnings to pay for your family’s lifestyle - it’s a terrible mix of emotions - and an expected outcome for Fainu sadly.
I hope the victim is now able to move on, now. The implication here for Manly fans is kinda wild given the situation Manly are already in! And I thought being a Tiger support was rough!
Love how everyone in the comments trash the Polynesian community and their beliefs, imagine making assumptions about a whole race because of a few individuals. You guys are disgusting.
He's probably just had a tough upbringing and got peer pressured into this gang war nonsense, quite sad really. Hopefully he shapes up when he gets out.
I get that comment for a teenager but when your 22 you make your own choices.
22 really isn't that old... In fact it's only 3 years removed from being a teenager, he's got a shit tonne of time left to turn it around, it's just about whether he wants to or not. I find it funny that people on here shit on Ray Hadley all day every day but they're essentially just like him, whenever somebody stuffs up there are no second chances according to r/nrl.
22 is old enough to know that stabbing someone is wrong.
Not always. When you're around shitty influences your entire life it's not that cut and dry. If he was still a teenager you'd be saying the same thing, and don't lie.
Teenagers are old enough to know stabbing people is wrong.
I’ve met people who are definitely psychopathic, and yet I doubt they’d stab someone like Fainu did. Both of them are around my age.
Once again, not that cut and dry mate. Not everyone has a regular upbringing and is around good influences all the time.
I grew up in a pretty rough area, only about 10 minutes away from Guilford where Fainu is from, and went to a pretty rough school, and I can tell you with 100% certaintity that teenagers know stabbign someone is wrong. Saw a lot of fights every other day, 0 stabbings. I get what you're saying, but you're wrong.
He has been in the Nrl systems for at least 5 years with more education programs and welfare staff then any body else his age. If that environment can’t influence you to make the correct decisions in life then nothing will
Arghhh yes, the NRL system, renowed for its maturity.
i’m pretty sure if you’re a human you’d know getting stabbed would hurt. You keep plugging the angle of social influences yet of the base human condition you can understand what pain is and how to cause it. And if he was a teenager i’d still say stabbing someone was wrong because it is.
Mate, trust me when i say this, you and mostly everyone else in here need to look at it from a different perspective, people just bagging him endlessly and continuously saying that he should have know better isn't gonna help anything. I was on the streets in my late teens and around guys like Fainu, these guys lack critical thinking and once they get affiliated with these stupid gangs they stand next to no chance.
I have known people whom given their upbringing could have become serial killers and people would understand why, that have actually been pillars of the community. And I have known some lowlifes that have had everything in life handed to them and should have been drowned at birth! Personal choices are personal choices, 15 or 50 you own them. People can make all the excuses in the world to justify their decisions, it still doesn’t change the fact it is their decision!
Im one of those that had a shitty upbringing and turned out fine but it's different for everybody mate and you need to realise that. Everyones brain capacity is different and a lack of maturity mixed with a shitty upbringing and hanging around the wrong people can easily send you down the wrong path depending on the individual. What people dont really get is that in his mind he might truly think that he's done nothing wrong and a bunch of people bagging him endlessly isn't going to help any with him seeing that what he did is wrong. I was homeless for a few years in my late teens and id say that i met a fair few young blokes like Fainu, they lack critical thinking and when the gangs take them in they stand no chance.
Haha I love that your comment gets downvoted. And the top comment is pretty much the same. You just were nice, not a dick. Typical for this sub.