Manly coach Des Hasler has called on the NRL to apply ‘common sense’ to their upcoming decision on whether to allow star centre Dylan Walker to immediately return to the field for the Sea Eagles.
Walker was on Friday found not guilty of assaulting his fiancee Alexandra Ivkovic in an alleged incident at their northern beaches home last December.
Speaking after Friday’s 26-10 loss to the Brisbane Broncos, Hasler confirmed the NRL integrity unit has contacted the club to advise it will review court documents in the coming days before ruling on Walker’s eligibility to return to the field.
Hasler was careful not to inflame tensions with the NRL but applied subtle pressure on the governing body to immediately lift Walker’s suspension.
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“It is what it is at the moment so we’ve had to abide by the (no-fault stand down policy) and he’s done that, and it’s gone through the course of natural justice and he’s been found not guilty,” Hasler said of Walker, who was suspended prior to Round 1 of the 2019 NRL season.
“So it’s now up to the integrity unit to pore over (the court documents) and I’m not going to get caught into making any judgement on the NRL – what’s the point?
“The ball’s in their court now and I’m sure if commonsense prevails they’ll reach a decision.
“But they have to inform us how they made that decision I guess, given the fact they’ll look at the documents.”
Asked if he is hopeful Walker, who has missed the first nine games of the season after he was banned under the NRL’s controversial no-fault stand down policy, will be free to play against Cronulla next Sunday, Hasler replied: “We’ll now wait on the integrity unit to deliberate over the weekend and I think they will do that fairly quickly.
“Karyn (Murphy from the NRL integrity unit) has already been in touch with the club and said that they will look through all the court documents over the weekend and make an early call on it.
“So (provided) Karyn and the integrity unit are satisfied, there’s a chance he might be available.
“And that’s it in the nutshell, I can’t add any more to it. That’s basically how it plays out.”
Walker’s return would be a major boost for the wounded Sea Eagles.
Daly Cherry-Evans (ankle), Tom Trbojevic (hamstring), Addin Fonua-Blake (knee) and Lachlan Croker (hamstring) have been sidelined in recent weeks, while Toafofoa Sipley (knee), centre Moses Suli (finger) and hooker Api Koroisau (ankle) suffered fresh injuries on Friday.
Pressed on whether he feels Walker has been fairly treated by NRL, the coach added:
“We’ve gone through with the no fault-policy so they informed us he has been cleared by the no-fault, so that’s no longer currently running,” he said.
“And I guess we’ll get a clearer indication later in the week when they hand down their decision, so that’s all we can go by.”
