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While Greg Inglis awaits his day in court, he will be free to play rugby league. The Test and State of Origin superstar will be rushed into Melbourne’s NRL side to play the Sydney Roosters at Olympic Park this weekend after the Storm lifted Inglis’ club-imposed suspension on Thursday.
Inglis had been under an indefinite playing ban for the past fortnight after he was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend Sally Robinson.
The 22-year-old appeared in a Melbourne court on Wednesday and, while his lawyer called for the charges to be dropped, the case was adjourned until October 14.
But the Storm board – and the NRL – have given Inglis the green light to return to the playing field while he waits for judgement.
Melbourne have slumped to two successive defeats since the star centre was suspended, and their hold on a top four berth is looking decidedly shaky.
But Storm chief executive Brian Waldron said the decision to allow Inglis to resume playing was nothing to do with the team’s formline or the importance of their clash with the bottom-placed Roosters on Saturday night.
Waldron said the club’s primary concern had always been the welfare of Inglis and his ex-girlfriend.
“Given all the information we have received at this stage, we believe in fairness, and (it is) in the best interests of Greg Inglis’ wellbeing that he resumes his playing responsibilities,” Waldron said.
“I have spoken to NRL CEO David Gallop and he has accepted the decision.
“In no way do we expect this decision by the board to influence or interfere with the current judicial proceedings relating to the matter.”
NRL boss Gallop said the league would not stand in the way of Inglis playing, and said the Storm deserved credit for their handling of the matter so far.
“Clearly it’s not all over and there’s an important court process that has to happen but, at this stage, we don’t believe it requires us to step in and stop him from playing,” Gallop said from Sydney.
“It’s a court matter and in those circumstances, looking at the way we’ve treated these things in the past, this would be an occasion we wouldn’t stop the player from playing.
“We won’t stand in the way of Greg Inglis coming back to play for Melbourne Storm this weekend.”
The NRL has allowed Manly’s Brett Stewart to play as he fights a sexual assault charge.
Stewart will make his comeback from a knee injury this weekend against Cronulla at Brookvale Oval.
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