MELBOURNE – Police say they are probing allegations of match-fixing in the top-flight National Rugby League competition.

“The organised crime squad is in the early stage of examining information relating to alleged match-fixing in the NRL,” a New South Wales (NSW) police spokeswoman said by telephone on Thursday.

“No further comment is appropriate at this stage.”

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reported that the probe involved two championship matches involving the Sydney-based Manly Sea Eagles last year.

The matches under investigation were against South Sydney Rabbitohs and Parramatta Eels, the report said.

Media departments at the NRL and Manly were unavailable for comment.

A senior NSW police detective told local media last week there had been criminal “infiltration” in the NRL, with players known to have formed relationships with underworld figures.

“I’m not saying corruption or match fixing has happened, but I’m saying the infiltration is there and that infiltration can lead to the compromise of the sports of the athlete,” said Detective Inspector Wayne Walpole.

Police issued three NRL players with official warnings last week for consorting with criminal figures.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said it was “a bad look” for the game and warned players and officials to choose their friends carefully.

The NRL was previously rocked by a match-fixing scandal in 2011 when former Ireland international Ryan Tandy was found guilty of spot-fixing during a match for the Canterbury Bulldogs the previous year.

Tandy was banned for life from rugby league, and months after losing an appeal against the charge in 2014 he was found dead due to a suspected drug overdose.

– Reuters