Bulldogs rugby league player Reni Maitua will seek to have his charges of assaulting a taxi driver dealt with under mental health legislation.

Maitua, 31, is accused of striking Abdelhamid Bensaidi, at Daceyville in Sydney's south-east, at 4.41am on November 25 last year, after a night out in Kings Cross.

Maitua, from Kingsford, was the second high-profile league player to face court in as many days for late-night assaults.

On Monday, Newcastle Knight Russell Packer was sentenced to two years' jail for an assault in Sydney's CBD in November.