NSW police have drawn a line in the sand for NRL players after evidence allegedly pointed to insider information being provided to gamblers in match-fixing allegations.
Police closed Strike Force Nuralda this week -- after they executed 59 search warrants and interviewed more than 160 witnesses as they investigated 13 unnamed people of interest -- satisfied that none of the four games they examined in 2015 and 2016 were rigged.
But they will send detectives from the NSW Crime Squad to speak with players and club chief executives after investigators claimed players had illegally passed on sensitive information to figures outside of their clubs that was used for gambling.
That alone is punishable in the eyes of the law, however, the statutory six-month window to charge individuals for summary offences has passed.
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But police have said they will consider laying charges if they find similar evidence within the correct time frame.
"There is an opportunity here to put a line in the sand, move on, and do something about this happening again," Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said on Friday.
"We've got no doubt there was insider information being exchanged about players who were playing, injuries, who was feeling good and who was feeling bad."
Police said their lengthy investigation revealed figures preying on vulnerable young players by building relationships with them after they had used drugs or prostitutes.
"Some of those people are just preying on players ... Because they are vulnerable," Supt Cook said.
"We've seen players who have debts greater than their (playing) contracts.
"They need people to help them guide their way through cocaine use, for gambling.
"When they provide information they could think it's incidental. It's a cheap way of paying back what they are in to.
"But it's not. There is an actual cost.
"There's a cost for the organisation, the club and the community. Because it undermines sport."
Police met with NRL executives on Tuesday to pass on the information but said no names of players involved could be provided under law.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said the game would not act on the insider information unless it had clear facts against individuals
But he stressed the message was clearer than ever that players had to watch the company they kept.
"If there is information that becomes available to us, as a game, we will act on it," Greenberg said.
"I'm not going to suggest that we're going to act on innuendo or rumours, what we have to do is act on facts."
Greenberg welcomed the news no matches had been fixed, and pointed to the beefed-up integrity unit and the new team naming process in 2017, which prohibited players being picked from outside a squad of 21 as signs the game was being proactive.
"Some of these changes have been quite systematic with our integrity unit over the last 12 months to work on the sort of things that have come through in this investigation," he said.
"These are some of the lessons that we have taken and we'll continue to take."
