Detectives from Strike Force Nuralda recently met with the NRL to raise their concerns about the integrity of the code being compromised. Credit:Brendan Esposito No charges could be laid over insider trading on matches because a prosecution has to be launched within six months of the offence occurring. According to the police statement, detectives from Strike Force Nuralda recently met with the NRL to raise their concerns about the integrity of the code being compromised by the infiltration of organised crime and by practices that are deemed as high-risk for the NRL. Sources have told Fairfax Media that those practices include the supply of drugs and prostitutes. Information relating to money laundering and drug supply, unrelated to the NRL, will continue to be investigated. Potential breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering Act have been referred to Austrac.

Police confirmed that it was information given to them by the NRL that led to the establishment of the police taskforce after troubling betting patterns were detected relating to betting on a match between Parramatta and Manly played in April 2016. Fairfax Media has previously revealed that this match turned up an extraordinary betting trail linking organised crime figures, associates of big-time punter Eddie Hayson and football playing brothers Kieran and Liam Foran. Some of the winnings from a successful plunge on Parramatta to win the match, in which Kieran Foran played for Parramatta, ended up in the TAB accounts of the Foran brothers. The NRL went to the police after receiving information from a betting agency relating to unusual betting patterns on that match. Six months earlier police had received information about alleged gambling and match-fixing with three 2015 games - all involving Manly.

During the course of their lengthy investigation into the four matches, detectives combed through some 46,000 pages of betting data and interviewed 161 people. They discovered that people whose usual bet was $100 were wagering $10,000 amounts. Other people who had never bet before were also betting huge amounts. Thirteen people including Eddie Hayson and Kieran Foran were identified by police as persons of interest. Associates of the pair confirmed the two friends were both subject to interrogation at the hands of the powerful NSW Crime Commission. No wrongdoing was found against either Mr Hayson or either of the Foran brothers, or any of the other people police had identified as being of interest. However, the NRL insisted that Foran's contract with his new club, Canterbury, includes a clause prohibiting any contact with the notorious gambler who has been banned from The Star casino and the TAB.

Separately Mr Hayson, who at one time owned Stilettos brothel, admitted at a well-publicised press conference in September last year that he provided a host of footballers with free sex but he didn't expect anything in return. "That is how I was promoting my business," Mr Hayson said. "Word of mouth is a very powerful tool." When he was asked if he had provided free sex to footballers who played in matches he had gambled on, he declined to respond. A June 2015 match, in which Manly played South Sydney, Mr Hayson was alleged to have asked his associate Danny Nikolic, the controversial Victorian jockey, to wager $100,000 on his behalf. Mr Hayson subsequently admitted he transferred $100,000 to his friend but he denied that money was wagered on the match in question or that there was any such thing as match fixing. "We all laugh about it," said Hayson in a radio interview of the match-fixing allegations. "The cops got sold a big lemon."

"There wouldn't be six players over there that would cheat on their girlfriends let alone a match. That's how square the Manly boys are, it's a complete joke." As to the trade of inside information, at his press conference the big-time punter said: "Inside information doesn't really exist in rugby league." He denied receiving inside information from NRL identities including Roosters' recruiter Peter O'Sullivan. Mr Hayson has previously denied wagering money on a National Youth Competition match when a number of key Roosters players were rested. Pressed on whether Mr O'Sullivan had ever provided him with inside information, Mr Hayson said: "Um, I don't believe so. I've known Peter for a long time so I want to be very accurate in what I say. No, I don't believe he has."

A month after the press conference, Mr O'Sullivan was banned indefinitely by the NRL after it was discovered that more than $700,000 from Mr Hayson had gone through accounts associated with Mr O'Sullivan. Loading The NRL prohibits those connected with the game from, either directly or indirectly, passing on information that is not in the public domain. League players and officials are also prohibited from wagering on NRL matches.