Raiders hooker Tom Starling has returned to training just days after being arrested for assaulting police and spending the night in a Central Coast lock up.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 22-year-old was welcomed back into the fold on Tuesday, 24 hours after Canberra coach Ricky Stuart vehemently backed Starling following the Saturday night incident which left the former Newcastle Knight facing five counts of assaulting an officer in the execution of duty.
NSW police have alleged Starling reached for an officer's gun in the scuffle, a claim the Raiders youngster denies. He is due in Gosford Local Court on January 21.
In the meantime he will engage in preseason training with the Raiders, which involved a weights session at the club's Braddon headquarters on Tuesday.
Starling has been cleared to return to training since he doesn't qualify for the NRL's 'no fault, stand down' policy which applies when a player has been charged with a crime carrying a maximum penalty of 11 years or more.
The NRL's Integrity Unit will conduct an investigation into the matter, and will work closely with NSW Police and the Raiders throughout the process.
A bruised and battered Starling was one of four men who emerged from a Gosford police station on Sunday morning after being granted bail following a scuffle with police at the Shady Palms restaurant in Avoca Beach. Two of the men were Starling's brothers.
MORE RAIDERS NEWS
Stuart said on Monday he was hopeful the matter would be resolved quickly, and not play out in a similar fashion to that of Curtis Scott's case which took seven-and-a-half months this year to be thrown out of court.
Scott was also slapped with multiple charges of assaulting NSW Police on the Australia Day long weekend this year. When his case was finally heard in September, video footage showed he'd been subject to police brutality by several officers after being woken up under a tree in Moore Park.
The incident affected Scott's on-field form, with the star Melbourne Storm recruit managing just two tries in 13 appearances in his first season with the club. He finished the year in a moon boot after re-injuring the leg he broke in 2016.
Meanwhile, NRL player manager Isaac Moses is a step closer to having his registration cancelled after losing an appeal against the NRL.
Moses faces deregistration after an appeals committee upheld findings he breached obligations as an accredited agent in 2017.
The NRL alleges that Moses counselled or assisted then-client Tim Mannah to 'give evidence to the NRL that was false and intended to mislead an investigation by the NRL integrity and compliance unit'. Mannah's evidence related to an investigation into Parramatta's 2016 salary cap scandal.
With AAP
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
