The AFL are leaving it to Richmond to make the call on whether Noah Balta plays before he is sentenced for assault.
Balta's club suspension is over and he is eligible to return in Sunday's game against Fremantle at Barossa Park.
He has pleaded guilty to assault and will be sentenced on April 22 for his attack on a 27-year-old man outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club.
The Tigers backman was suspended for four premiership season matches, after also sitting out two practice games, by his club in a sanction ratified by the AFL after the incident on December 30 last year.
Speaking at the Gather Round launch in Adelaide on Wednesday, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said Balta is free to play.
"Ultimately Noah is in the middle of a court process, which will finalise in a couple of weeks," Dillon said.
"The AFL process was completed in February, Noah has served his suspension and he's also undergone behavioural frameworks, which he's been adhering to.
"Now he's available for selection. It's up to Richmond whether they select him.
"He has completed the suspension, he's done everything that was asked of him. But he is in the middle of a court process, which continues."
On Tuesday, outgoing AFL Players Association chief executive Paul Marsh said Balta "has a right to play" while he awaits his assault sentencing.
Richmond coach Adem Yze last week said the club planned for Balta to return on the weekend.
Balta pleaded guilty in the Corowa Local Court to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which in NSW carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
Prosecutors said Balta's actions, which hospitalised the victim Thomas Washbrook with head injuries, met the threshold of a high-level offence.
The court was shown CCTV footage of Balta running out of the club and shoulder-charging Washbrook, knocking him to the ground.
Court documents state Balta punched Washbrook's head two to three times and assisted his brother by holding the man down.
Balta punched Washbrook twice more in the head before he was pulled away from the victim, who was bleeding from a three-centimetre head wound.
Balta's defence team admitted to the court the incident was serious, but argued the assault was at the higher end of a mid-level offence.
His lawyer Belinda Franjic told the court the offence was "completely and utterly out of character" for the AFL star.
When asked whether Balta being able to play was a bad look for the game, Marsh said: "We're getting into some really challenging areas when we start making decisions on what a good look for the game can be.
"The game has got an ability to help players rehabilitate and become better people."
