The midfielder spoke out after he was caught by the FFA and fined and banned for two games for betting against his club.

Brebner won the pitiful sum of $4.21 in his relapse bet when he staked $2.48 on his side losing or drawing against Chonburi in the Asian Champions League.

But although he says he tried to stop that bet being placed in shame at his actions, he then carried on to place a much bigger bet on the same game - and lost.

Today he spoke out about the scandal and vowed to do what he could to kick the habit once and for all. Brebner joined Victory as a self-confessed betting addict and has previously completed a spell in rehab to try to reform himself.

He apologised to his team-mates this morning - and thanked the club for its support while also apologising to them, the fans and the FFA.

"I realise that I have done the wrong thing, particularly in the bets relating to Melbourne Victory," he said today.

"The first bet was a moment of weakness. I started betting on the draw or Chonburi win, but when I realised what I was doing, I tried to cancel the bet. Unfortunately it was too late and $2.48 had been bet.

I stopped the bet, because I have too much respect for my teammates and the club and knew it wasn’t the right thing to do morally and it wouldn’t have sat well with me.

"The second bet was larger involving the number of goals that would be scored in the game, which ultimately was a losing bet, but also wrong.

"I want to state that it didn’t involve any of my team mates or anyone else at
the club, at a time when I was not involved in the squad because of injury."

He added: "This is not easy for me to talk about. Some of you are aware of my past and the problems I have with gambling.

"While I have stayed on top of this for some time, I have had a regrettable lapse.

"I am going to get further help. I need to do this for myself. I realise how important it is for me to get this right.

"I have let a lot of people down, including my family, and I have to live with that. The biggest mistake of my career has me discussing this today, and I’m committed to taking a more proactive approach to beating this problem.

"This is an incredibly difficult time for me, to deal with this problem. It’s a personal matter that I will be tackling, and I don’t want to make any further comment on this."