Rugby league: Ben Barba starts new career as truck driver following life ban from the NRL

Ben Barba will start a new career as a truck driver. Photo / Getty

From commanding a $500,000 salary to now earning an average of $27.20 an hour as a truck driver, Australian league star Ben Barba has suffered a stunning fall from grace.

Barba had his Cowboys contract torn up earlier this month in relation to an incident at a Townsville casino, the same day the 29-year-old was officially unveiled as fullback for the Indigenous All Stars.

The controversial playmaker, who was once named the best player in the game, allegedly "attacked his partner and mother of their four daughters, Ainslie Currie". The NRL deregistered Barba following the incident on Australia Day.

Ben Barba of the Sharks steps around the tackle of Michael Morgan of the Cowboys. Photo / Getty

In a bid to pick up the pieces of his life, Barba is now set to get behind the wheel in his hometown of Mackay with a view to one day work in the mines.

Cowboys head of football Peter Parr confirmed that the club was attempting to assist Barba.

"We are going to help Ben wherever possible," he told the Courier Mail.

"At the end of the day, Ben is a human being with a partner and four young kids and we can't just toss them out without any care.

"They are a young family and we feel we have a responsibility to help them — if indeed they want that help."

NRL Chief executive Todd Greenberg confirmed that the "physical altercation between the player and his partner" had been caught on CCTV and said there was no place left for him in the game.

"His registration with the game is no longer and I can't see a time, at any time in the future, that he'll be welcomed back," Greenberg said.

"What I am going to say is that in the jurisdiction that I uphold, there's no place for him. It's probably time for Ben to find a new vocation."