Zorba weighs in

"The ham in the sandwich of an underworld dispute" – that's how a prominent Manly official has described the match-fixing allegations. Peter Peters says he was asked by coach Trent Barrett to speak to Sea Eagles players on Friday about allegations two game were fixed last year."Where's the proof rugby league isn't the ham in the sandwich here in an underworld dispute and innocent lives are being affected and a great football club and its players are being seriously defamed?" Peters told Sky Sports Radio. "Where is the evidence of the bets? A bet of that magnitude has to be registered." Interestingly, Peters said in the interview that "in my experience" it would be possible to interest one or two players in such nefarious activity. Peters said current Manly players were being "treated like criminals" by the media.

Selective memory

The week before Jack Wighton was charged with illegally touching linesman Brett Suttor, he admitted hitting the same man with a football. When the Canberra fullback made one of two costly errors against Canterbury last Sunday, he flung the ball away in disgust and accidently struck Suttor on the legs. Wighton quickly forgot his own woes and apologised profusely to Suttor, who smiled in response. When I interviewed Wighton on Triple M at fulltime eight days ago, he said: "Blokes get suspended for touching them, I hit him with the ball!" Presumably the match review committee missed the first incident. Wighton faces a one-mach ban for the second one.