04:22 EDT, 25 January 2021
The latest chapter in one of the saddest stories in Australian sport was played out in a near empty courtroom in northern Queensland last week.
Former NRL star Brett Dallas wasn't in Mackay Magistrates court last Friday to hear his bail application denied on a raft of drugs and theft charges. He was behind bars in the jail cell where he has been confined for the past seven months.
The charges, which also include breaching bail, contravening a domestic violence order and a weapons offence, are the latest in a long list of alleged offences which have tried the patience of legal authorities to breaking point and could see Dallas jailed for up to 25 years.