Brisbane Broncos coach Kevin Walters had valid reasons to express his frustration after the NRL (National Rugby League) admitted that Panthers center Taylan May should have been penalized for a head clash with Reece Walsh, resulting in a facial fracture for the Broncos player.
During the incident in the first half, May was penalized, leading to Walsh leaving the field. Although Walsh passed the Head Injury Assessment (HIA), he couldn’t return to the game due to blurred vision. Additionally, he had to undertake a road trip back to Queensland as he was not medically cleared to fly.
Walters was understandably angry afterward because the Broncos were unable to activate their 18th player, and his frustration may have escalated after NRL’s head of football, Graham Annesley, stated on Monday that he would have supported May being sin-binned and charged for the incident.
Annesley referred to an email he had sent to all 17 NRL clubs on April 5 of the previous year, warning about the dangers of defenders forcefully targeting attackers’ heads by jamming in and hitting them.
Match review commissioner Luke Patten attempted to clarify the decision-making process regarding the incident from last week. He argued that Taylan May did not lead with his head or shoulder during the clash. However, NRL’s Graham Annesley disagreed, stating that they had made the wrong call.
According to Annesley, the NRL administration believed that the incident should have been deemed a careless action at the very least. He explained that when players aggressively rush up in defense and cut inwards to shut down a play, often at high speed and with minimal room for error, there is a risk of a tackle going terribly wrong.
While Annesley criticized the match review committee’s decision in the May incident, he commended them for not charging John Bateman for a tackle that resulted in Cronulla’s Toby Rudolf wearing a moon boot. Despite some claims that it was a hip-drop tackle, Annesley clarified why it was not considered charge-worthy. He emphasized that although Rudolf’s leg got caught underneath, the weight did not fall directly on the limb as the first point of contact, as Bateman found the ground first before the leg got caught.
Annesley also expressed satisfaction with the Bunker’s decision to penalize Jake Trbojevic for obstruction, which potentially cost Manly two competition points in their loss to Parramatta. Annesley explained that Trbojevic stopped in the defensive line, preventing Luca Moretti from reaching Tom Trbojevic, who took advantage of the gap created by the obstruction. Annesley stated that if Jake had continued running through the line, there would have been no contact. He highlighted the need for lead runners to understand that they must get through the defensive line, and in cases where it is done correctly, they step around defenders to avoid making contact. In this particular instance, the Parramatta player had no choice but to collide with Jake since he had stopped directly in his path.
