With the NRL revealing on Thursday afternoon that five players and nine casual game day officials have been suspended and a further three officials sacked because of illegal betting on rugby league matches, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players have insisted that it won't be a problem at their club.
With Sea Eagles winger David Williams and Cowboys back-rower Ethan Lowe headlining the list of the suspensions, Bulldogs utility Mitch Brown maintained that gambling hasn't been an issue at the club.
"Des [coach Hasler] has got us too busy around here to be doing that sort of stuff but it makes sense that they're clearly trying to crack down on it and get it out of our game," Brown said.
"You just can't bet on games. You can't put $1 on an Origin game. You just can't do it which everyone here understands."
Being a 115-game veteran and deemed a senior player at the club, Brown asserted that he would have no problems stopping his younger teammates from betting if the situation ever arose considering the strict guidelines enforced on players that prevent them from betting on rugby league.
"They may not have realised that $5 here or there might not have hurt but like the rules say you can't even put 50 cents on something. They just need to learn from their errors," Brown said.
"I wouldn't even know how to fill out a form personally. I don't bet on the races or anything like that at all. I just stay clear of it all."
Having entered first grade this season, winger Corey Thompson added that the senior players are always there to help clarify such rules and guidelines enforced on them.
"A couple of the older boys try to clue in all us younger players [and] help us [understand] what not to do and what to stay clear from so we're pretty good around here," Thompson said.
"I'm not really a gambling type of guy so I try to stay away from all that stuff and I'll probably lose everything anyway because I have no idea what to press."
Centre Tim Lafai further noted that: "We're pretty good here at the [Bulldogs]. Everyone knows the rules on it and I wouldn't know anything on betting. Now everyone knows if you bet you have to deal with the consequences."
