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Stand Jack de Belin down until his case is resolved

13th February, 2019
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(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images
Expert
13th February, 2019
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2892 Reads

On Tuesday, St George Illawarra Dragons player Jack de Belin left Wollongong Local Court having pled not guilty to charges of aggravated sexual assault.

There have been some very serious allegations being levelled at De Belin, including that he repeatedly raped a 19-year-old woman while his mate Callan Sinclair (who is also accused) watched on. The details surrounding these allegations are very challenging to read – at one point it is alleged that De Belin asked Sinclair to join him in having non-consensual intercourse with the woman, inviting him to ‘come on, have a go’.

Following De Belin leaving court, the NRL came out and said that he is free to continue playing until the legal process is completed. While De Belin had been reporting to the police twice a week, this condition has been relaxed given that he has commitments with the Dragons that require him to travel so that he can play footy.

But, in my strong opinion, De Belin should not be seen on the field in the red and white jersey until his case has been closed. He should be stood down with pay and not allowed to play – but allowed to continue training with his team.

Earlier this month Todd Greenberg came out strongly in response to CCTV footage that confirmed that Ben Barba had a physical altercation with his wife on Australia Day. The North Queensland Cowboys also acted strongly, immediately terminating Barba’s contract, and Greenberg backed this up by making it very clear that there was no scenario in which Barba would be welcomed back to the NRL in the immediate future.

Ben Barba crossing for a try

Ben Barba. (AAP Image/David Moir)

Many fans welcomed this tough stance too, given how many of us are feeling slightly disillusioned after the number of alleged incidents this off-season.

Standing down De Belin is a controversial view and I already know what sort of comments will be at the bottom of this article.

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The first one is ‘innocent until proven guilty’, and I completely agree. Like anyone else, De Belin has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and standing him down would not be making an assumption about the outcome of this case. It simply means he’d not play for the Dragons until a verdict has been reached.

I actually think that would be in De Belin’s best interests. I query how he can possibly take the field for the Dragons at the moment with this circus surrounding him and be completely focused on playing football. I query how he will handle potential taunts from other players and fans.

I query how well mentally and emotionally he will be able to handle playing football at the same time while he is under intense scrutiny.

Additionally, football, fitness and friends will be key to De Belin during this time; he should still be able to train with his teammates and be given the support that he needs as this process continues to go through the court system.

There have also been suggestions that if De Belin is stood down, it’ll set a dangerous precedent where people in the public will make false accusations to get players stood down ahead of important games.

How sickening is it that someone would potentially think about ruining a player’s reputation to that extent and would go to the extreme lengths of pressing false charges.

But this argument falls flat on its face. De Belin is currently in court and very serious charges have been tabled. For it to get to this point in the court system, there must be at least enough evidence for there to be a compelling case worth pursuing.

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Police take these matters seriously. You simply cannot go to a station, make false charges and expect a charge to follow soon after. There needs to be evidence to back those allegations up.

And, of course, whenever an article like this is written the situation surrounding Brett Stewart is always raised. But that situation was completely different. The NRL made a decision to suspend Brett Steward for four rounds and charged him $100,000.

Stewart was eventually cleared, but immense damage had been done to his career.

My proposal here does not impose any financial penalties on De Belin. There is no suspension from the club environment, save from taking the field on gameday. De Belin should simply be stood down to handle the situation that he is currently in and be given the space, time and privacy to do that.

I do not envy the NRL. They are in a no-win position here.

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They can take my approach and then, if he is found innocent, they can deal with the challenges of him potentially losing an Origin spot.

Or they can allow him to play, which he is legally allowed to do, and potentially alienate some fans who will find it very challenging to cheer on a team featuring De Belin in the current circumstances.

Either way, this off-season is one I would rather forget, but that doesn’t seem likely given the number of players who will face court in the coming weeks.

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