Axed NRL star admits to spitting on woman in NSW pub assault

Banned NRL star Talatau Junior Amone has pleaded guilty to assault after spitting on a woman during a heated argument in a pub.

The former St George Illawarra player was arrested in August 2024, after reports of an assault at a licensed premises on Keira St in Wollongong in the early hours of one morning.

CCTV footage of the incident showed Amone and the woman in the gaming room of the pub before an argument broke out.

READ MORE: Homeowner, 87, confronts offender during robbery as thieves target home impacted by McCrae landslide

Defence lawyer Angela Cook told Wollongong Local Court the 22-year-old had been out drinking on the night of the offence and had no plans to meet up with the victim, with whom he previously had a "fleeting intimate interaction".

The woman approached Amone while he was "intently" looking at the screen of a poker machine, she said.

"When he went out that night there was no plan whatsoever to make contact with the victim, the meeting was spontaneous," Cook said.

"The victim approaches him (and) what occurs is a brief, short, impulsive, spontaneous and unplanned act."

Cook said the argument started when the woman said "insulting things" about Amone's family and his career.

"It was sensitive at the time and remains sensitive," she said.

"There was a significant crumbling and impact on a career that he had pursued and pursued and pursued and it had fallen apart."

READ MORE: Charges laid after $50,000 worth of Pokemon cards found at Melbourne home

The ex-Dragons five-eighth had his $500,000 contract torn up in 2023 and is unable to be registered in the NRL until at least 2026 after a hammer attack on a tradesman.

In June 2024, Amone was sentenced to a 24-month intensive correction order after he and his father confronted the man, who had parked on a neighbouring property in Warrawong, in November 2022.

Amone smashed the man's car windscreen with the hammer before climbing onto a roof and chasing the victim.

The man fled, jumping across to another rooftop before falling from the building, hitting an air-conditioning unit on the way down.

Amone had diligently completed community service during his community correction order for his previous offence, Cook argued.

He also actively pursued treatment with a psychologist for adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressive symptoms, she said.

"The guilty plea is indicative of contrition and remorse," Cook added.

"This offender is someone who, post-community service, has positively contributed to the community through coaching and training and this bodes well for his prospects of rehabilitation."

Magistrate Michael Love said he wanted to see a report from community corrections before sentencing Amone.

He said he was not considering a custodial sentence but rather further community service to "repay the harm done to the community".

Amone will be sentenced on February 25.