The big news in the game this week has been the so-called betting scandal involving St Helens players Sean Long and Martin Gleeson.

Both players have allegedly used their online betting accounts to back against their club, betting they would lose by more than nine points to Bradford Bulls last weekend.

Unlike cases such as the one involving Bruce Grobbelaar, the former Liverpool goalkeeper, there is no suggestion that either player in any way tried to contrive the result. In fact, Long didn't play and Gleeson scored a try. What the players did know, however, was that Saints would be fielding a massively under-strength team, containing the bulk of their Under-21s side.

I must admit, having known this information beforehand, many punters, myself included, would have seen this as too good to miss. Having said that, it wouldn't have been long before the bookies got hold of it and either changed the margin, or suspended the betting, which by all accounts they did anyway.

As it is, a national newspaper with a historical dislike for our game (the Daily Mail) has got hold of the story and gone to town on the players and club involved.

The rugby league bye-laws state that in no way should players bet on games involving their clubs, so there is no doubt the players have contravened these laws, but the calls in some quarters for the players to receive life bans seem somewhat over the top, in fact ludicrous.

Many players both now and in years gone by would regularly have a flutter on the weekly rugby coupon and speak to their mates at various clubs to find out the team news. While I admit to having the occasional fiver or tenner on the coupon, I have never gone near a team I have been playing for, out of superstition more than anything. I don't think the RFL would be issuing life bans over a fiver anyway.

The players without doubt have been pretty stupid, firstly to use their own accounts in their own names, and secondly to back against their own team, especially with the inside knowledge of the weakened line-up. But life bans? It's a bit over the top for me.

Sean Long is quoted as earning £200,000 a year, so he's hardly going to retire on his £900 return. And as has been suggested with international cricket, no large betting sting has been involved.

On top of that, in the game concerned Gleeson was over the moon when he scored the first try to put Saints in front.

It has been suggested in some quarters that the players should donate their winnings to charity and that they be fined by the RFL, and I tend to agree with this.

But if anything like this is likely to happen again, I will get our very own Chris Smith, an ex-Saints player, to tell Sean to let us know - and I'll put it in this column and we can all get on it.

Sunday's defeat to Hunslet was without doubt disappointing and, while some excuses have been offered, we won't hide behind any.

A disastrous start left us with a mountain to climb in the conditions, and failure to capitalise on the chances we had, plus some dreadful individual errors, meant we were always chasing the game.

It will be nice to get back into our regular training routine and back to one game a week, but what we have already seen is that this year's National League Two contains some very tough fixtures.

Updated: 11:40 Wednesday, April 21, 2004