The highlighted quote is and should be a major major worry for the RFL. This has the potential to be highly damaging to RL's image.

Yep, I had the same thought[sizewhen questioned if he fancied a bet on Sunday's fourth-round Challenge Cup clash,[/size he enthused, Leaf added
Sweet is a sun journalist so what he wrote may not quite match the facts of course.

Whatever, the player has been suspended and will face an RFL investigation.

Aside from the obvious errors Leaf has made, and yes, if found guilty he should be banned, this article just stinks of something that was written by someone who has never watched a game of RL, let alone knows anything about the sport.

The facts are paper-thin, the comments and accusations are dangerous and as mentioned, libellous, and it just smacks of something that is not very well known about. ClaimingTODAY we reveal how rugby league's cheats deliberately fix matches to pull off massive betting coups.'"

I think the people suggesting he should be banned for life need to calm down. The consensus on this board was to allow Gareth Hock back to play, and I don't see anyone consistently suggesting Ryan Hudson shouldn't be playing yet they both committed a far greater breach of the rules.

The situation is also not the same as the Long & Gleeson incident. They knew that the saints team would be weakened. This lad took a gamble that his team would lose heavily to a SL side, which is hardly suprising. He's been stupid and broken the rules and I wouldn't be against a long ban, but certainly not banned for life for placing a bet.

However, if it's proved he's deliberately tried to throw games in the past then a lifetime ban would be appropriate. But so far I don't think that has been proved yet.

Questionable journalisim in my view, If true ban him & anyone else caught. But what irks me is that they splash out a big scoop type headline but hardly ever give space to our sport at any other time. I just dont see why they are interested in that story but not a decent day to day reporting of the Leagues.

This is just news today and it’ll be archives tomorrow. Hopefully Wayne Rooney has slept with a transvestite and he was too drunk to realise. That’d divert the attention away!

So notoriously dodgy rag sensationalises a story and can't even be bothered to get the player's age right. Tomorrow's chip paper...

Well researched? It amounts to nothing more than "a bloke in a pub told me...". Casual pub conversations are neither evidence nor solid research. He's produced a damning article condemning the whole of RL based on one player's unproven boasts. Ok, so he placed a bet and spoke of another - that can be dealt with. But the rest is sensationalism, nothing more. The journalist mentions 'rugby league's cheats' - PLURAL. I assume he has solid evidence of this? He also seems to believe Shaun Leaf can tell if the opposition have also placed bets on the outcome - based on their tackling!

And to blame the RFL for this is pathetic. They have strict rules in place designed to prevent illicit gambling in the sport, but in a sport involving thousands of people there will always be a bad egg. What exactly do you propose the RFL could have done to prevent Shaun Leaf placing bets and talking to an undercover journalist like this? Come on, you're full of accusations, where's your solution?

Speaking as a Dons fan i would be shocked if any of this turned out to be true. I have never seen Leafy ever give less than 100% for the team....

You mean:

"A senior rugby league official (The Sun knows his name) took a more-than-usual interest in a fixture where Toulouse carried a 48-point handicap."
?
I assume they've got nothing, as they neither name anyone, nor actually make any allegation whatsoever. Define what 'usual' level of interest such an official would have in such a game, then tell me how you judge the anonymous official's interest to be 'more than usual', and if it was, what is wrong with that? Maybe his dad is from Donny, or his granny is French?

Plus, we are told that none of the playing players knew anything about any betting, so what did the official achieve from his more-than-usual interest?

Who gives two hoots what that rag says ?

In the Sun???

The story seems to consist entirely of "I (Sun journalist) met this bloke down the pub who's a rugby league player for Doncaster. I said to to him: "fancy a bet on Doncaster losing to Wakefield". He said: "yeah. I've bet on our games before"

All of which makes Leaf a very silly, and very naught boy, who deserves whatever is coming to him and casts doubt on the journalist's claim in his Twitter profile to be "an all-round good bloke" but doesn't revel max fixing, as the rag claims it does.

Shaun Leaf is scarcely Hansie Cronje