Jack de Belin’s lawyer has taken aim at the NRL’s controversial no-fault stand-down policy, declaring the policy is “unfair” and “needs revision”.
De Belin is free to resume his NRL career after prosecutors formally withdrew four sexual assault charges against him on Friday. The St George Illawarra forward maintained his innocence throughout and the Director of Public Prosecutions directed there be no further proceedings after the first two trials resulted in hung juries.
De Belin has been sidelined for the past two-and-a-half years and the outcome has brought the no-fault stand-down rule into the spotlight. His lawyer, David Campbell SC, said the policy needed to be scrapped or amended.
“Plainly, this rule does need revision,” Campbell told the Herald. “My position has always been clear, and it’s only a personal view, that the presumption of innocence is central.
“It’s pretty unfair that a young bloke has his career taken away from him for two-and-a-half years whilst he has to go through the process of demonstrating that he’s done nothing wrong.
“Once the prosecution drops the charges, it’s as if the charges never were brought. Somebody or a group of people need to have a look at the rule.
Dragons player Jack de Belin.Credit: Steven Siewert
“I understand the philosophy underpinning it, but there at least needs to be some scope for discretionary amelioration of the harsh consequences on young people who have a very finite sporting career.”
The Dragons paid de Belin more than $1 million while he was sidelined, yet were unable to select him or terminate his contract over fears the club would be sued. The NRL introduced the hardline policy to placate concerned sponsors, but Campbell said his client’s case exposed its flaws.
“Rules are brought in for all areas of our life,” he said. “As circumstances evolve after a rule comes in, the rule-making body certainly should look at the appropriateness of the rule and consider whether it needs revision.
“Whether that is some sort of discretionary provision or whether it means its removal or whether it means watering it down; that’s for the people who make the rules to look at and factor in into the future.
“They should look at the circumstances and say ‘This wasn’t intended by our rule, these circumstances show we need to give some further consideration to the content of the rule’. It’s only common sense, isn’t it?”
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys on Friday said he felt “sorry” for de Belin, but said the game needed to protect its interests.
“The way [former ARLC chair] Peter Beattie Beattie [introduced the rule] is one of the greatest bits of leadership I have seen in my career,” V’landys said during a radio interview with 2GB.
“We had a major problem, it had to be addressed. Our commercial partners were threatening us and we had to consider the game as a whole. That’s what we did, we took one of the toughest stances in Australian sport and we had to, we had to protect the game.”
Under the NRL rule, players charged with an offence carrying a maximum prison term of 11 years or more are automatically stood down until their court proceedings are finalised. V’landys said the coronavirus impacted the speed at which the legal system could deal with the matter, but Campbell said there was always a chance the case could stretch on for years.
“As a lawyer, I certainly could have foreseen [the delays],” Campbell said. “It’s frequently the case that criminal proceedings that have to go to a district court and a jury take three years to conclude. Frequently that happens.
“In the meantime, our youth rot on the vine. It doesn’t seem aequitas, it seems absurd. He has to re-establish himself on the football field and there’s a new wave of young people coming through that he has to try to overtake.”
De Belin’s lucrative Dragons contract will now take effect, which will offset legal fees that have been estimated to go beyond the million-dollar mark. The former NSW lock is considering launching defamation actions against several news outlets over their coverage of the case.
Asked about his legal options, Campbell said: “It’s not the right time to be talking about things like that.
“At the moment it’s about being appreciative of the system we have in Australia that allows the presumption of innocence to remain paramount, to appreciate the fact the director of Public Prosecutions has sensibly realised the inherent weaknesses in the cases that have been brought.”