An NRL player at the centre of a perjury case against a former police officer believes the sentence handed to the ex-cop should have been harsher.

Known as Officer A for legal reasons, he was today given a one-year intensive corrections order, similar to a suspended jail sentence.

The officer admitted to giving false evidence during the well-publicized rape trial involving former St George player Jack de Belin and co-defendant Callan Sinclair in 2020.

He inaccurately stated that the texts involved only “Dragons business,” even though he was aware they likely included private exchanges between the player and his attorney, Craig Osborne.

First charged in December 2018, de Belin and Sinclair faced two trials before charges were dropped by prosecutors in mid-2021.

The incident adversely impacted the forward’s career, despite his attempts to contest the NRL’s contentious no-fault stand-down policy, which kept him out of play for several years.

Although the perjury charge was particularly grave due to the ex-officer’s senior rank, Judge Christine Mendes determined that his serious mental health issues mitigated the need for a harsher sentence.

“He is a highly fragile, broken man,” she said.

The judge discovered that the officer had been displaying unmistakable symptoms of untreated post-traumatic stress disorder for several years preceding his misleading testimony in February 2020.

“Officer A did not seek professional treatment until Feb 2020 … he was clearly unwell and suffering,” she said.

The judge rejected the prosecution argument the officer had a sophisticated and well-thought-out plan to commit perjury.

De Belin and Sinclair denied sexually assaulting a then-19-year-old woman in December 2018, arguing they had a consensual threesome.

The woman alleged she was attacked by de Belin in a North Wollongong unit and then cried as the men took turns assaulting her.

In November 2020, a jury in Wollongong was dismissed less than two days into its discussions after reporting to the court that it could “absolutely not” come to a decision on any charges.

A Sydney jury, hearing the case in mid-2021, spent more than a week before it too became stuck on nearly all charges.

It acquitted de Belin and Sinclair of one charge each, relating to an incident the NRL player testified was accidental, and prosecutors dropped the remaining charges.

Sinclair’s father Terry Sinclair told reporters today he believed police had been motivated by a “blatant and concerted” effort to convict a high-profile footballer.