Banned NRL player Ben Barba has been arrested and charged with assaulting a man at a Mackay pub.

Barba, 30, was arrested on Friday after he allegedly punched his wife’s brother in the face.

The Courier Mail reports the man he punched was the brother of Barba’s partner Ainslie Currie. He was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Barba won the 2012 Dally M Medal and a 2016 premiership with Cronulla, but was then banned for 12 weeks by the NRL for testing positive to cocaine.

He ventured overseas and was successful in the Super League, winning the 2018 Man of Steel.

He earned a contract with North Queensland and was set to return to the NRL before being barred from the game on the eve of last season for an incident with his partner.

CCTV footage caught Barba in an aggressive altercation with Ms Currie and the NRL banned him indefinitely.

He plead guilty to two counts of public nuisance in May for that incident at a Townsville casino.