St George Illawarra star Jack de Belin has not yet been suspended by the NRL despite widespread public statements to the contrary, a judge has been told.

Alan Sullivan QC, for the NRL and the Australian Rugby League Commission, said the proposed new rule and policy to stand down players charged with a serious criminal offence had not yet been enacted.

“There’s nothing to stop him playing rugby league from (between) now and the time the rule is enacted,” he said on Thursday.

De Belin is suing the NRL and ARLC in the Federal Court in Sydney over their representations that on February 28 he was suspended on full pay, having previously pleaded not guilty to raping a 19-year-old woman in Wollongong.

The NSW State of Origin lock claims they did not have the power to suspend him and that they engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.

De Belin wants the court to permanently restrain the NRL and commission from inserting the new rule into the NRL Rules Mr Sullivan said de Belin was not presently suspended although the new rule was expected to be brought in before the start of the 2019 NRL competition next week.

Justice Stephen Rares said NRL material had suggested de Belin had been stood down when in fact he had not.

“There is no entitlement to stand him down from what you have told me,” he said. “The truth is, nothing is in place at the moment. It is damaging to him as a professional and as an individual.”

The case was adjourned to March 12 by which time the new rule may be in place.

De Belin claims the NRL and ARLC engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by claiming they had the power to suspend him and by makinga number of public comments.

They include suggesting they had “formed a view that de Belin was guilty” of the rape and had “engaged in conduct that warranted his immediate suspension as a player for the club”.

“The suspension representation was made in press releases, social media, on www.nrl.com, in television, radio and newspaper interviews by Peter Beattie and Todd Greenberg published in every state and territory of Australia,” the court documents state.

The player says this caused irreparable damage to his reputation and financial loss.

He is seeking an order that the NRL and ARLC immediately issue a press release and place corrective advertising in numerous newspapers stating: “The NRL has not suspended St George Illawarra player Jack de Belin. He is available to play for St George Illawarra”.

De Belin is seeking damages, compensation and legal costs, as well as a string of court declarations including that the two bodies engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct.

He also wants an order permanently restraining them from inserting the new rule into the NRL Rules or NRL Code of Conduct, claiming it is unreasonable and contrary to public policy.

Under the old policy, players who pleaded not guilty to serious charges were allowed to continue playing until their case was finalised in court.

His lawyers say neither body had any material to enable them to determine de Belin was guilty of rape or in breach of the NRL Code of Conduct.

But for the “threatened suspension”, de Belin intends playing in the first 2019 match on March 16 and in matches through the year and 2020, and to make himself available for representative selection including for State of Origin, the documents state.