George Burgess’ wife stands by St George NRL player after he is charged with sex crime

George Burgess’ wife has defiantly shared a selfie with the NRL star despite him being charged with groping a woman in a bar.

The woman claimed to police last week that the St George Illawarra Dragons star touched her in Mascot, in Sydney’s south, earlier this month.

The Dragons forward and his lawyer volunteered to assist police in the investigation with the English-born front-rower attending the station on Monday afternoon.

His wife Joanna posted a picture to her Instagram story on Wednesday morning showing the shirtless front rower hugging her in a photo taken in 2014. 

Burgess is married to former model Joanna King, with the couple sharing three children

The original post has since been flooded with comments describing the 29-year-old as ‘Pommy trash’.

‘The Burgess brothers! Pommy trash. Who’s the perfect family now,’ a woman commented on his wife’s social media account. 

Burgess and his ex-model wife met in 2014 when he was playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

They were engaged two years later and have three children together.  

The original post has since been littered with comments from angry supporters, describing the 29-year-old as ‘Pommy trash’

Burgess met his former model wife (pictured) in 2014 and they were engaged two years later. They have since had three children together

Burgess was charged with sexual touching of a woman, which carries a sentence of five years – short of the 11-year threshold that triggers the NRL’s stand down rule.   

He is due to appear in Sydney’s Downing Centre on April 13. Details about the alleged assault have not been released.

The Dragons said it was alerted to the allegations by the NRL’s Integrity Unit.

The woman’s claims emerged just three days after Burgess played in St George’s 20-16 defeat to Penrith last Friday.

Burgess has been charged with sexual touching of a woman which carries a sentence of five years – short of the 11-year threshold that triggered the NRL’s stand down rule

NRL star George Burgess could be free to play in Thursday’s round three derby against Cronulla – despite being charged over the alleged sexual touching of a woman (pictured, with his wife Joanna)

Burgess has been named to play for the Dragons in their round three clash with the Cronulla Sharks in Wollongong on Thursday night.

However, the NRL has discretionary power to suspend Burgess, and league chief executive Andrew Abdo is expected to make a ruling within the next 48 hours.

‘In terms of the no-fault stand down policy will be invoked that will be something reviewed and a decision made in the next day or two depending on how long it takes to get all the information,’ Abdo said at the NRL’s launch of multicultural round.

‘Once we have reviewed all the facts, we’ll make a decision on whether or not we will invoke the no-fault stand down policy.’