Cronulla's fallen star Greg Bird will have to wait to learn if he has any future at the NRL club after the Sharks board decided to continue their deliberations on his future beyond Thursday night.
The New South Wales and Australian representative five-eighth fronted the board in response to the club's "show cause" notice issued back on November 12.
Bird was stood down from playing or training by the club in August after being charged with the alleged assault of his girlfriend Katie Milligan, who suffered a fractured eye socket.
An initial charge of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm was later downgraded to reckless wounding.
He faces other charges, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two charges of lying to police, and is set to appear in court for them to be heard on April 27.
Bird is signed to the club for four more seasons, though Sharks officials reportedly wanted to sack him, with suggestions also that they ask the NRL to ban him for two years.
The board convened at Sharkies Leagues Club around 6pm local time to discuss Bird's status at the club.
Flanked by his manager Gavin Orr and legal counsel Les Nicholls, Bird arrived shortly before 7pm and said nothing to the media either before or after the meeting.
He emerged at 8.35pm, with Orr making a short statement and not prepared to answer any questions.
"We've come here tonight and we've met with the board and we think we've had a fair hearing and now we're going to wait for the results of that hearing sometime tomorrow, and that's all we're going to say," Orr told reporters.
However, Sharks chairman Barry Pierce made it clear around 35 minutes later there would be no decision handed down by the board on Friday.
"The board has obviously met with Greg Bird and his representatives this evening," Pierce read from the prepared statement outside the club.
"We have only received today a 10-page reply to the club's 'show cause' notice issued on November 12, which has been discussed at length tonight with Greg and his legal counsel.
"The full board will now continue its deliberations.
"The next scheduled full board meeting is on the 16th of December."
Pierce wasn't prepared to take any questions, but when reporters told Pierce that Orr expected to hear a decision on Friday, the Sharks chairman stressed there was no chance of that happening.
"With what we received today, we need a lot more deliberations, so there will be no decision tomorrow, I can assure you."
While there was a suggestion before the meeting that Sharks fans would stage a protest, there was little evidence of any support for Bird before or during the meeting.
If Bird is sacked by Cronulla and deregistered by the NRL, English Super League club Warrington is considered a likely candidate for his services.
