Controversial Canberra Raiders recruit Curtis Scott will make his club debut in Saturday’s pre-season clash against the Canterbury Bulldogs in Port Macquarie, coach Ricky Stuart has confirmed.
The 22-year-old, who signed a four-year deal with the 2019 grand finalists in November, is facing six charges following his arrest in the early hours of January 27 in Sydney.
Police will alleged Scott assaulted two police officers, with the case scheduled to resume on March 20.
The former Melbourne Storm centre has pled not guilty to all six counts.
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NRL boss Todd Greenberg has reportedly viewed police body camera footage of the alleged incident but his yet to make a decision on whether to suspend the 49-game veteran under the no-fault stand down policy.
“He’s playing this weekend,” Stuart told reporters on Tuesday.
“That’s (a decision on his Round 1 eligibility) still to be dealt with from the powers to be but he’s available to play this weekend, yeah.
“… He is looking forward to playing some football, it’d be an understatement to say we haven’t taken this seriously and dealt with it, we genuinely have,” he said.
“And it’s been (an) ongoing situation but I can genuinely say he’s remorseful about the choices and the situation he got himself into, but it’s not the Wanda Beach Murders either.”
The pre-season hit-out against the Bulldogs will be The Green Machine’s only trial match before their Round 1 clash against the Gold Coast Titans on Friday, March 13.
