Former Canterbury Bulldogs contracted player and current Ipswich Jets forward Zac Hetherington has been charged with the alleged assault of Norths Devils player Brandon Finnegan.
The forward is the brother of Broncos player Kobe Hetherington.
Zac, formerly contracted to the Bulldogs in 2019, and again in 2022 and 2023, has not played an NRL game, but has played 29 in the NSW Cup, and another 36 in the QLD Cup.
The 26-year-old, who is with Ipswich this season after playing for Wynnum Manly in the competition last year, allegedly was out with a wider group of players at a Brisbane pub before the start of the reserve grade season when he is alleged to have punched Finnegan over the treatment of a female within the premises.
Despite the charge, Hetherington has been allowed to continue playing in the QLD Cup, with QRL boss Ben Ikin telling News Corp that another discussion with the QRL governing body will be had once he has faced court.
โWe are aware of the incident, there has been a charge against Zac,โ Ikin is quoted to have said by the publication.
โZac is like everybody else - he will have his day in court and once that happens, we will sit down and have another discussion as a governing body.โ
The report suggests Hetherington did have a brief period away from the game to deal with the alleged incident, but has been back on the park for the last three weeks.
Ikin defended the decision to allow Hetherington to continue playing.
โIt sits below the NRL's no-fault stand-down policy,โ he told the publication.
โOnce it gets reported, we have our conversations internally and with the NRL to make sure we are aligned.
โClearly, it's not ideal, but the standards are the standards and we applied them as we know them.
โOnce Zac has his day in court, we will move into the next phase.โ
