The face of the NRL will be showing his face in round one of the new season.
The league has left Benji Marshall‘s alleged assault to the courts after finding no evidence of any further bad behaviour.
NRL boss David Gallop said on Monday the league had accepted a report from the Wests Tigers, as well as conducting its own inquires at the venues attended by Marshall on Friday night and Saturday morning.
It concluded that the only matter for concern was the disputed assault.
Marshall, 26, has been charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and will appear in court on April 20.
Gallop said there was no evidence Marshall had been drunk and the league boss sought to head off criticism by pointing out the differences between the Tiger star’s case and that of the 2009 face of the league, Manly’s Brett Stewart.
“Benji Marshall has been charged with assault but there’s no evidence of any other misconduct on that night which would lead us to be looking at misconduct other than the assault charge,” Gallop said.
“That puts us in the situation where the facts are in dispute in relation to the assault and it will clearly be a matter that needs to be determined by the court.
“At this stage, therefore, the club is not in a position to take any action and we accept that and we’re in a similar situation.”
An NRL statement said Marshall’s behaviour had been “exemplary” before the incident as he hosted a charity event to raise funds for children with cancer.
Marshall’s manager Martin Tauber claimed his client was subjected to racial abuse three times before the alleged assault took place in the Sydney CBD in the early hours of Saturday morning.
