DANE Cordner, the older brother of Australian skipper Boyd, claims he was acting in self-defence when he allegedly assaulted Knights prop Jacob Saifiti, leaving him with a broken leg.
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And Mr Cordner's legal representatives, barrister Jack Tyler-Stott and solicitor Tendayi Chivunga, are seeking to call more than 20 witnesses, including a number of current and former Knights players, and play more than two hours of CCTV footage from inside and out of the Greenroof Hotel during an estimated five-day hearing in Newcastle Local Court later this year.
Dane Marsden Cordner, 28, of Adamstown, was excused from attending court on Thursday.
He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of reckless grievous bodily harm over the alleged fight with 22-year-old Saifiti on the footpath outside The Greenroof Hotel at Hamilton in the early hours of December 2 last year.
Ms Chivunga told Magistrate David Price on Thursday that she had received the brief of evidence against Mr Cordner and put on record that her client will claim at the hearing that he was acting in self-defence during the altercation with Mr Saifiti.
Ms Chivunga said due to the large number of witnesses and volume of CCTV footage that would need to be played, the matter would take five days to be resolved in the local court.
Hearings are typically much shorter and a local court hearing of that length may need to be a "special fixture", often requiring an outside magistrate to be dedicated to the case.
"The probability of finding five day is close to zero," Mr Price told Ms Chivunga.
The matter was adjourned until Friday for Mr Tyler-Stott to make submissions as to why the matter will take so long to finalise.
According to court documents, the alleged fight occurred on the footpath in Tudor Street outside The Greenroof Hotel at 2.29am on December 2.
Saifiti was taken to John Hunter Hospital where he underwent surgery for a fractured leg.
Cordner was not arrested at the scene and instead handed himself into Newcastle police station on the afternoon of December 5.
He was charged and remains on conditional bail.
The Knights later disciplined Saifiti over the incident, fining him $50,000, or 25 per cent of his salary for season 2019.
The Knights suspended half of the fine.
