Wests Tigers star Mitchell Moses has pleaded with the NRL to refrain from handing under-fire centre Tim Simona a lifetime ban when it finalises its decision on his betting scandal.
Simona's future could be decided as soon as this week when he fronts the NRL integrity unit to answer allegations he placed wagers on players he was marking to score a try.
The Tigers have been silent on the issue since the 25-year-old was stood down by the governing body last month, however Moses broke ranks to ask for leniency.
"To see what he's going through at the moment is pretty tough. Everyone makes mistakes," Moses told Triple M Saturday NRL.
"I definitely don't think he should get life but that's up to the NRL completely."
The Tigers five-eighth, who was superb in the side's rout of South Sydney in their season-opener on Friday, suggested the bets in question were only small in nature.
It had previously been reported that only wagers as small as $10, in a betting account not in Simona's name, had been placed.
"For an incident like that, for the amount of money that he put on, if it's all true... I don't even know if it's all true to begin with," Moses said.
"I don't think a lifetime ban - you're kind of ruining his life if you give him that.
"That's going to be up to the NRL, so we'll see what happens."
A lifetime ban for Simona would be the game's first since Ryan Tandy was caught attempting a betting sting when he played for Canterbury in 2010.
Tandy was found to have deliberately conceded a penalty to set the scene for North Queensland to score first points via a penalty goal in their August 2010 match against the Bulldogs.
