Players placed on notice after May evades action: “Should have been a charge”
The head of football for the NRL, Graham Annesley, has issued a warning to any player who commits a similar tackle to Panthers center Taylan May, which resulted in Broncos fullback Reece Walsh breaking his eye socket. Such a player will probably face a judicial charge.
Senior NRL officials, according to Annesley, believed that May ought to have faced charges from the Match Review Committee for his head-on collision with Walsh in the first few minutes of last Thursday’s game at Penrith. May was fined and put on report, but she was spared more punishment because the Match Review Committee determined that the head collision was unintentional.
But according to Annesley, May’s actions might have been considered thoughtless or irresponsible due of the higher chance of a tackle going wrong when defenders rush in quickly to provide pressure to an inside player who has the ball. At his weekly media briefing, Annesley stated, “It doesn’t really matter whether it’s shoulder to head, whether it’s arm to head, or, in this case, whether it’s head to head. It’s the way a player approaches the tackle.”
“In our game, there will always be head collisions that don’t call for action, but in this instance, the tackler’s actions have increased the possibility of harm. A tackle that goes horrifically wrong can be caused by players leaping out of the line and cutting in to try to stop the action, frequently at a fast speed with very little margin for mistake. This is the place where the match review committee ought to have taken action, according to the game management, regarding this specific incident.
“All defenders, in our opinion, have a responsibility to play the game with due respect for the safety of other players. “We sincerely believe that it met the requirements for a charge.”
