Former rugby league star Ben Barba is reportedly set to face Mackay Local Court on an alleged assault charge.

According to a Daily Telegraph report, Barba, who made an attempt to resurrect his career in 2019 with the North Queensland Cowboys, but didn't play a single game for the club, was reportedly charged with assault occasioning bodily harm and arrested.

Details of the allegations made against Barba by Queensland police remain unclear at this time.

Barba, who now resides in Mackay played more than 150 games in the NRL during a career which saw him represent the Canterbury Bulldogs, Brisbane Broncos and Cronulla Sharks, with his final season in the competition seeing him play a major role in the Sharks' first premiership.

He then went to England where he took his number of first grade rugby league games past 200, playing 34 games with St Helens.

In between, he represented the Indigenous All Stars six times and the Prime Minister's XIII once, but never made it into the State of Origin team.

He also had a brief stint playing rugby union in Toulon during 2017 and was linked to return to the sport in America earlier this year, however, that appears to have fallen through.