A defiant Tom Starling has declared he has “nothing to hide” but the Raiders hooker admits his highly-publicised arrests over the past two summers have turned his life upside down.
Starling will start the NRL season next week with charges hanging over his head.
Police allege Starling was with his brothers and a friend when they were refused entry to Mumbo Jumbo’s on the Central Coast in December due to number limits.
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They further allege that the group became agitated and threatened the security manager a number of times before walking away.
Starling has been charged with hindering an officer of which he is pleading not guilty.
Separately, Starling and his brothers face charges over an alleged brawl at Shady Palms on the Central Coast on December 5 2020.
Police alleged Starling grabbed at an officer’s gun, an accusation which made front page headlines.
The 23-year-old fiercely denies that claim and said he was trying to break up a fight between his brother and another patron after a derogatory comment was made about their mother.
“It’s an ongoing court case so I can’t say much but one side of the story has been told and I’ve got nothing to hide to be honest,” Starling told foxsports.com.au.
“I know what the public perception of me would look like, looking from the outside in it doesn’t look too good.
“But I’d say to anyone thinking differently of me – just wait until both sides of the story come out.”
Amid the off-field issues and despite not yet being formally announced by the Raiders, Starling confirmed he has been re-signed until the end of 2024.
But his new contract didn’t arrive before a spray from coach Ricky Stuart.
“Yeah I did cop one,” Starling said.
“But Stick knows who I am and people close to me know what type of person I am and we just have to wait until my time comes to share my side of the story.
“All the facts will come out and I know for fact it will look a lot different.
“It’s a funny sport, one minute you’re sort of a nobody and next minute you’re on the front of the Telegraph. It’s still a bit of a surprise to be honest but that comes with the territory.
“It is a learning curve, things like this can blow up into massive things.
“All the boys around here know what type of person I am and it’s not that. I’m not what I’ve been made out to be.”
Starling admits he cares what people think about him and said the saga has taken a heavy toll on his mental health.
The hooker eventually reached out to a psychologist over the incidents which has changed his life and tarnished his reputation.
“It has rattled me,” he said.
“I used to speak to my mum a lot about it and I could tell it was weighing heavily on her and I didn’t like seeing her so upset, so I reached out to the club to start speaking to someone about it all.
“I want young kids to look up to me and that’s sort of been taken away from me at the moment and it does knock you around a bit.
“For the last couple of years I’ve said publicly I want to be a role model for all these kids who are told they’re too small and this sort of stuff, so for this to get out in the media and all that, you know the headline was I grabbed a gun.
“It obviously doesn’t look too good. My image has been pretty tarnished from that, so I’m just trying my best to be myself and bring back my image that was taken from me. I’m trying my best.
“It’s hard because I used to look at NRL players as heroes, I met Benji Marshall once on the sideline and I told my mum I was never going to wash my hand because he gave me a high-five.
“I love the feeling that I can be that for someone, but now it’s hard. I go to games now thinking all people are saying is ‘There’s Tom Starling that dickhead that carries on off the field’.
“I do think about it a lot away from the facility and coming in here is sort of my safe haven because I can come in here and be around the boys.
“I’m just trying each day to be myself and stay true to who I am.”
Starling praised his family for their support throughout the ongoing ordeal.
“I have two brothers and they are massive for me, they’re your brothers and they’ve got your back no matter what,” he said.
“But my whole family, my cousins, aunties, uncles, grandma, nan, they’ve all got my back and know what type of person I am. They’ve been really good.”
The club are across the facts of the case and remain quietly confident Starling will be exonerated.
Former Raiders player Curtis Scott faced a similar situation and he was cleared of charges while the police’s behaviour was blasted by a magistrate.
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