The NRL will put a horror six months behind them as the 2019 premiership season kicks off. (AAP Video)

NRL star Dylan Walker has denied pulling his fiancee’s ponytail and causing her to fall down on a concrete driveway with a baby in her arms, instead claiming he simply “touched her shoulder … then she fell”.

The 24-year-old has pleaded not guilty to a charge of domestic violence-related assault occasioning actual bodily harm after his fiancee Alexandra Ivkovic suffered grazes to her shoulder, leg and feet in December.

He’s also pleaded not guilty to a backup charge of common assault.

Walker told Manly Local Court on Friday Ms Ivkovic had left their home after a fight broke out between the pair when she asked him if he would like a spoon or a fork to eat dinner while he was playing his PlayStation.

He said he followed her outside and asked her to come back into the home and speak to him.

“I just reached out with my left hand to touch her shoulder, just turning her towards me,” Walker said. “Then she fell, fell onto the ground.”

Ms Ivkovic initially told NSW Police when she left the home cradling the baby Walker followed and pulled her by the ponytail to the ground. But in February she told the court she recalled things differently later on.

“When I fell, I thought at the time that he had grabbed my hair but then I realised that he didn’t,” Ms Ivkovic said in court.

She said Walker reached out to grab her shoulder and her hair got in the way. Friday’s hearing continues.