The Australian Rugby League Commission decided on Thursday that a player charged with a criminal offence that could attract a jail sentence of 11 years or more cannot play in the NRL until his name is cleared.

To those who cannot imagine a highly paid executive or any significant public figure turning up for work while facing a rape or murder charge, this "no fault stand-down" will seem a common sense outcome.

Even more so to those who have seen the NRL's brand trashed during the summer series of CSI: Rugby League by allegations of serious crimes against women particularly.

On the other hand … to those who believe such a ban is an affront to the entrenched notion of presumed innocence, the policy will be considered a craven example of populism and brand protection.

Jack de Belin has been stood down from playing on full pay. ( ABC Illawarra: Renee Sant )

From St George's Jack de Belin, the first player to be stood down under the new rules while facing a charge of aggravated sexual assault, it is likely to prompt legal action to regain the right to play until he has had his day in court.

To the NRL Players Association, it will be considered an egregious breach of a player's right to natural justice and an outrageous imposition on its entire membership.

By 15 of the 16 clubs — St George-Illawarra presumably being the hold-out — the policy will be accepted as a tough but necessary measure to save the game's reputation.

At least until one of the 15 yay-sayers loses a star player and suddenly shifts position.

To elements of the media, the policy will be a sensible and overdue reaction to multiple cases of violence against women particularly; to others another example of policy on the run and even grounds for the replacement of the allegedly populist and pliable chairman, Peter Beattie.

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And so on the day Sydney's Daily Telegraph optimistically declared the ARL Commission had made "the biggest crackdown in player behaviour in rugby league history", it is was achingly apparent the game had failed to do the one thing necessary to create meaningful change.

It failed to get everyone on the same page. In fact, even as it announced the new policy, the ARL Commission didn't even have the major stakeholders in the same library.

This is not to suggest the NRL's new policy is not timely and welcome.

As Beattie said: "We needed a benchmark — a standard to protect the game of rugby league."

Simply, the sight of players charged with serious offences appearing in NRL colours week after week eroded what remained of the game's ever-diminishing credibility on player discipline and threatened to deprive participants — including those facing criminal charges — of the very healthy livelihood they enjoy.

In that context, whether you consider de Belin merely the first player subjected to a sensible policy or a martyr to a brand-conscious cause, his absence on full wages was the price that had to be paid to protect the sport's long-term future.

Todd Greenberg has had to repeatedly face the press after instances of bad behaviour. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

Yet at the same time, the lack of unity among stakeholders provides just the latest example of the bizarre power dynamic that makes necessary and meaningful change so difficult to achieve in a game that is routinely divided against itself.

The NRL Commission's belated formation — long after clubs felt entitled to a vast share of media rights deals — means it has never enjoyed the power of its pioneering AFL equivalent, which used both stick and carrot to bring cash-strapped clubs and other needy elements of the sport to heel.

Thus the NRL does not enjoy the strong paternal relationship with clubs, the NRL Players Association and player agents that might allow it to push through contentious rules without the kind of fight it now faces.

So even as the NRL was bringing club war lords and iconic figures such as Mal Meninga on board, it was answering lawyers' letters from agents acting on de Belin's behalf and suffering the public wrath of the NRL PA.

Considering the fight the NRL faces, you can't doubt the sincerity of what Beattie and Greenberg are trying to achieve with the new regulation.

Sorry, this video has expired Todd Greenberg says violence against women will not be accepted in the NRL

Beattie has trawled the social media sewer seeking fan input and taken a beating in the press for his own views.

Greenberg has been the proverbial fireman this summer, rushing into the flames as one player after another put a match to a keg of behavioural gasoline.

No wonder both seemed thoroughly convinced that a hard-line approach was necessary to save the game from the very worst of itself, even knowing they would be put through the wringer by dissenting elements of the game and the media.

Accordingly, the 11-year policy has become the greatest test of Beattie's chairmanship, with critics bemoaning his knee-jerk responses and populism and advocates hailing the "tough on (alleged) crime" stance as a breakthrough for a beleaguered game.

Dylan Walker has pleaded not guilty to domestic violence charges. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

Besides the de Belin case the NRL's long list of summer allegations are still being pondered including Dylan Walker's domestic violence charges and Dylan Napa's "Big Papi" sex tapes.

Meanwhile, North Queensland's Scott Bolton will endure the most lamentable walk of shame since Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, traipsing from one NRL club to the next to tell the sordid story of being caught on CCTV assaulting a woman in a bar.

What's next? There's always something to test the NRL's mettle.

And there seems more chance the United Kingdom will have negotiated a seamless Brexit than the NRL will be in full agreement on its new behavioural rules when it happens.