Footballer Jack de Belin and his friend Callan Sinclair had "hooked up" with a woman by the time the trio had left a Wollongong bar to go to a unit, the men's rape trail has been told.
"Everyone is entitled to have a good dance, young women and men, and everyone likewise is entitled to be keen on each other," Sinclair's barrister Craig Smith SC said on Tuesday.
He contended that the jury would not be satisfied of either the accuracy or reliability of the woman's evidence given at the Wollongong District Court trial.
Sinclair, 23, and the 29-year-old NRL and NSW State of Origin star have pleaded not guilty to five counts of aggravated sexual assault, saying the early-morning encounter in a North Wollongong unit in December 2018 was consensual.
Mr Smith referred to CCTV footage from Mr Crown bar which he said involved dancing with the woman, touching of the breasts and passionate kissing.
Her "affection", particularly to Sinclair, and the attraction did not cease or stop, and there was nothing wrong with what she was doing, the barrister said.
"By the time they had left Mr Crown they had hooked up," he said.
It was open for the jury to conclude that each of the three knew they weren't going onto another club, but somewhere else.
Footage of their ride in a tuk-tuk showed it to be "a happy time", not the "angry" time described by the woman.
"The complainant's evidence was the whole reason they were leaving town was effectively so the two boys could charge their phones," he said.
But he asked if it made sense that two men who had been on a Santa pub crawl would go home to do that or even to change their clothes.
"Or does it make more sense that three people are going somewhere together consensually?" he asked.
Referring to telephone intercepts of conversations the two accused had with various people, he submitted they wouldn't have known they were being recorded.
"Every time there is mention of sexual activity it is consensual sexual activity," he said.
"You might think in the telephone intercepts, there is utter disbelief of the suggestion of a sexual assault."
A medical examination of the woman after the alleged attack had revealed redness to her chest and a bruise on her neck.
Mr Smith submitted those injuries would be consistent with consensual activity and would be expected to be "vastly different" if what she said had happened did occur.
Prosecutor David Scully earlier alleged that de Belin expected he would do whatever he wanted to to the woman, who said she had gone to the bathroom in the unit when he walked in with no clothes on.
"He expected when he walked around naked it would inevitably lead to sex," he said.
"He formed the view it was going to happen whether the complainant liked it or not.
"He took that sex by force ladies and gentlemen."
Mr Smith is continuing his address, after which de Belin's barrister will address the jury.
