Brisbane Broncos coach Kevin Walters had every right to be up in arms after the NRL made a stunning admission that Panthers centre Taylan May should’ve been charged for a head clash with Reece Walsh that left the Broncos star with a facial fracture.
May was penalised for the first-half incident which forced Walsh from the field, with the fullback passing an HIA but unable to return to the field due to blurred vision, while he had to drive back to Queensland because he medically wasn’t cleared to fly.
Walters was fuming in the aftermath given the Broncos weren’t able to activate their 18th man and his fury could intensity after NRL head of football Graham Annesley said on Monday he would have been happy if May had been sent to the sin bin and charged.
While Annesley says the MRC got that one wrong, he praised them for not charging John Bateman for a tackle that left Cronulla’s Toby Rudolf in a moon boot.
There were claims that it was a hip-drop tackle, and while there were some elements of one, Annesley explained why it wasn’t worthy of a charge.
“There will at times be situations where limbs will get caught under bodies, but that’s not the first point of contact – it’s not the weight falling directly on the limb,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that Rudolf’s leg gets caught underneath, but getting caught underneath is a lot different to body weight falling directly on a player’s limb as part of a tackle as the tackler finds the ground.
“In this case, John Bateman found the grass first and then the leg got caught under the body.”
Meanwhile, Annesley is happy with the Bunker’s decision to penalise Jake Trbojevic for an obstruction which may have cost Manly two competition points in the loss to Parramatta.
The lock forward stopped in the defensive line and stopped Luca Moretti from getting to Tom Trbojevic who took advantage of the gap to set up Tolu Koula.
“If Jake runs through that line, there is no contact. He stops,” Annesley said.
“He’s running directly towards a player who has stopped where he cannot stop, he sees him there and he knows that’s roughly the line to where the ball’s coming.
“Would he have attempted to plug that hole if Jake isn’t in the defensive line, because that’s the thing that impacts players when they’re trying to decide where to be to plug gaps.
