NZ Kiwis star Dylan Brown has pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual touching.
The Parramatta Eels half originally faced five counts following an incident at a Sydney pub last month, but police withdrew three charges in light of the guilty pleas.
Brown's laywer, David Newham, claimed his client had 15-20 drinks over six hours on the night of the incident.
In a statement, Brown issued an unreserved apology to the woman involved.
"I am not proud of the behaviour I displayed and I take full responsibility for my actions," he said. "Additionally, I want to apologise to everyone connected to the club for the negative impact that this incident has caused and I am committed to learning from this experience."
He has been sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order, but has had a no-fault stand-down condition lifted, as the NRL Integrity Unit considers its next action.
The NRL policy requires a player to automatically stand-down, if they face a maximum prison term of 11 years or more. While Brown's charges did not meet that threshold, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo chose to impose the ban, when five charges were laid.
"The NRL has today confirmed that the no-fault stand-down condition will no longer apply to Parramatta Eels player Dylan Brown, following the finalisation of criminal proceedings against Brown at Downing Centre Local Court today,” said the NRL.
"With the criminal proceedings concluded, the NRL integrity unit will now conduct an immediate review of the matter."
Brown, 23, has missed three games under the stand-down order. Conveniently, the Eels have drawn a bye this week, but will return to face NZ Warriors at Sydney on July 8.
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