Just like he did in last year’s epic Grand Final comeback, Nathan Cleary mesmerised the Broncos with his array of tricks to lead the Panthers to an emphatic 34-12 triumph at BlueBet Stadium on Thursday night.
This time around there was no trophy on the line, just two competition points for a Round 3 clash at Penrith, but he had Brisbane’s defenders spellbound yet again as the premiers cashed in on an unfortunate early incident involving Reece Walsh.
The star fullback was ironed out by Panthers centre Taylan May in the fifth minute in a sickening head clash and the home side exploited the rejigged Brisbane backline from that moment onwards.
Walsh was split open and after being taken off for an HIA, he never returned despite passing the concussion test due to blurred vision.
Duty to bend ruling causes controversy
Referee Sutton controversially penalised May for the hit on Walsh even though it was clearly accidental.
May rushed in to blindside Walsh on a sweep play to the right edge, colliding with his opponent just after he had passed the ball wide.
Play was allowed to continue before Sutton returned to the point of impact at the end of Brisbane’s set and after getting advice from the Bunker, penalised the Panthers, saying May had a “duty to bend” when making a tackle to avoid high contact.
Reece Walsh (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
“You haven’t bent coming into the tackle. You’ve got a duty to bend to avoid contact,” he lectured May while Panthers captain Isaah Yeo looked on in disbelief.
Record-breaking former Storm star Cameron Smith could not believe May was in strife.
“Well, if we officiate that way, we could penalise every tackle. That’s just incidental,” he said on Nine commentary. “They had very little time. Both men travelling at high speeds and you don’t really have too much of an opportunity to make a late decision like that. I’m perplexed at that decision.”
Canterbury general manager Phil Gould was another who could not understand Sutton’s logic, posting on social media: “Duty of care to bend your back?????”
Over on Fox League, premiership-winning halfback Greg Alexander claimed the ref wouldn’t have blown a penalty if not for the stream of blood which cascaded from Walsh’s split melon. But he is the deputy chairman of the Panthers board so he was hardly going to throw the book at May.
Former NSW coach Brad Fittler disagreed with the criticism of Sutton by saying May had “a responsibility not to make contact with his head”.
“He saw Reece Walsh the whole time. And he’s got a responsibility to be a little bit safer.”
Walsh’s HIA was delayed while he was having his facial wounds bandaged, costing the Broncos an extra interchange and although he eventually passed the neurological test, he failed a sideline catching examination.
He struggled to collect practice passes sent his way late in the first half and headed back up the tunnel with the swelling ensuring that he was no chance to make a brave comeback.
By full-time the eye had totally sealed shut and Walsh’s previously unblemished face was sporting several stitches.
“He’s not too good in there. He’s having trouble seeing,” coach Kevin Walters said. “He’s got a big gash. He tried to get back on but he just wasn’t right to go so we pulled him from the game.”
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said he was “not too concerned” that May was placed on report.
“No one wants to see some of the best players go off but I thought it was an accident. I actually thought he was trying to pull out of the tackle,” he said.
“He was directly upright which is not how you tackle. If he had have bent down which I think the Bunker was suggesting that he should have, he probably would’ve hit him in the head with his shoulder which is not what we want.
“Reece Walsh moves pretty fast so these things happen and it was unfortunate.”
Izack Tago celebrates scoring. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Cleary presents danger to Broncos
Brisbane actually started this match as the dominant side even though they went into the match without Adam Reynolds and Payne Haas due to knee injuries and Walsh lasted only a few sets.
But at the first sign of trouble in the form of a handling error and subsequent penalty, the Panthers pounced.
Second-rower Brendan Piakura switched to centre so Selwyn Cobbo could slot in at fullback with Walsh off and Cleary sensed a weakness to exploit.
He struck first in the 14th minute when he targeted Brisbane’s makeshift left edge to present winger Sunia Turuva with an unmarked run to the line with a precision cut-out pass.
Cleary went that way again in the 22nd minute for Izack Tago to use his pace advantage to get past Piakura for a 10-2 advantage.
Panthers hooker Mitch Kenny had a sniff of white line fever in the 25th minute as he bounced over the stripe in a Cobbo tackle.
It looked like a double movement as he reached out but going for this line did not get him in troubleeee with the trolls in the Bunker.
Cleary resumed his stranglehold on the Brisbane left edge a few minutes before half-time when he drifted to the right, showed the ball, faked a long pass and hit Tago with a short ball as Piakura engulfed the halfback to give his grateful centre an untouched stroll for his second four-pointer.
“That is just absolute genius,” gushed Immortal halfback Andrew Johns on Nine. “It does not get any better.”
Nathan Cleary claimed in the post-match chat that he didn’t deliberately head towards Brisbane’s rearranged edge while Walters said his team did not cope with the changes while admitting he needed to pick a bench with more versatility to cover all options.
“When you make those adjustments as a team we didn’t handle that too well. We tried to do things as individuals which was never going to work, both in defence and attack. Before we knew it the game was gone,” he said.
The 22-2 half-time advantage became six points greater in the 46th minute when Cleary steered the attack left for variety, resulting in Brian To’o sliding over in the corner.
By the 50-minute mark it was 34-2 after the Panthers virtually repeated the same attacking movement for To’o to burrow through three would-be defenders.
Brisbane pegged back the deficit with a try to Deine Mariner midway through the second half. May was on the receiving end of a head clash this time around when he copped some friendly fire from Dylan Edwards in trying to prevent Mariner touching down and was taken off for an HIA.
The visitors reduced the deficit to 22 when Jesse Arthars capitalised on a blatant forward pass from Ezra Mam to Piakura in the lead-up for a long-range try.
They did well to ensure the three-time premiers did not rack up a cricket score on them but with their three most impactful players in Reynolds, Haas and now Walsh in the casualty ward and a 1-2 record to start the season, Brisbane face a critical couple of weeks against so far unbeaten teams North Queensland and Melbourne in the next two rounds.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Would have been a card every day of the week in rugby. Can be mitigated down to a yellow, or a penalty.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
Meanwhile... Another Qld SoO player, Tino F, gets badly injured in a dubious tackle and the tackler again escapes punishment.... Is there a pattern emerging?
wilbas
Roar Rookie
As an athlete the ACL is a career ending injury...yeah sure being paraplegic is worse ...you forgot Jared McCracken who was speared into the ground. and this is the problem with rules becoming pedantic if we look at the MCkINNON TACKLE....Many players at the time when lifted to the horizontal started turning their heads towards the ground in a effoprt to get a penalty...McKinnon certainly did that as there was no other reason his head should have hit trhe ground how it did.
Don
Roar Rookie
I'd imagine Alex McKinnon would say otherwise. Beau Ryan, Ethan Lowe, Kade Snowden, Mose Mason and others would all take an ACL injury over neck damage.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
Agreed. After many slomo viewings...The Penrith player jumped into Walsh, made no effort to soften the impact *and* led with his head. It was insightful how all the usual suspects were chanting "accidental" every 3 seconds.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Was all the talk about Taylan May just made up by his manager? With all the interest from the Dragons, Storm & Roosters . Danny Wilder saying that he looks like leaving. The ‘last ride’ cryptic message. Then May quietly signs a contract extension for another 2 years.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
League is ten years away from getting some control over concussion risk, even if it starts now. The NRL has worked so hard to put the game in the enviable position it is in, now places it all at risk. From the outside it is hard to see who are the lunatics, and who is in the asylum.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
You’re the one who brought up , what happens to former players. I gave some of the many examples of what can happen, to cause the many head injuries. The fact that you brought up the 70’s , 80’s , 90’s. When it was wild. Missed the 60’s… They used to punch, elbow, shoulder charge , knee , head-but etc. Plus all of the above that can happen anyway. Is it any real surprise about the brain damage caused, during earlier decades? By the way. You’ve talked about these fabulous former hard men of previous teams , eras. When players such as Sattler, Saint , Piggins & the like , were as much thugs as players. RCG was playing for Penrith when JWH took him out. Last weekend a Cronulla forward deliberately shoulder charged Kikau , late & to the head . For a one week suspension, after the fact . If that’s worth 1 week, an accident is still worth nothing. Just as was given. As much as I don’t wish to see any player with any head injuries. Walsh himself, deliberately shoulder charges players to stop them scoring. For an odd penalty against him . Only by pure luck , that none of those players haven’t been seriously injured themselves. It’s just a personal view of whether you think May had anything to answer for? Under any current rules , he does not . A view also held by many former players, coaches.
matth
Roar Guru
He’s got a facial fracture
matth
Roar Guru
Go talk to Wally Lewis about his problems now. Go talk to many of the old players who can barely function. The head is different. Any contact to the head should be dealt with harshly, even if it’s an accident. Suddenly there will be less accidents
jameswm
Roar Guru
Don’t have parts of your body (including your head) at a level where they can collide with the ball runner’s head. It’s not a difficult concept.
matth
Roar Guru
He’s got a fractured face, not a gash
wilbas
Roar Rookie
The reason the heads collided is because both players realized a collision was inevitable and both players rose on their toes to free their heads from the impact. It is that simple..May try to close down a quick play and had to be upright to get his left arm around the passing hands of Walsh...it was a microsecond between the pass and contact...A outside back has to make rush plays like that.Sure workplace law says duty of care and consequently he was penalised. Just because the boy got a gash we should not consider the outcome in regards to punishment.That is not law and rules but emotive madness.
wilbas
Roar Rookie
ACL is the worst injury a player can have.
wilbas
Roar Rookie
you are right...and these rules changes were not made for the players but to protect clubs/the leagues and news limited from further litigation.. It is a head clash from a player trying to swiftly get to a location and a defender swiftly trying to cut him off...Look at it in slow motion and they could shake hands when the pass was made...May being in a position to close down the pass hence the high position of body...both players realize they are going to collide and the vision shows BOTH lifting their carriages to avoid heavy contact but the heads meet.
Good Grief
Roar Rookie
A player is allowed to rush the attacking play to apply pressure. That’s not reckless. Strike 1. If May left his feet it was pulling up and back, not up and forward into contact. Strike 2. May wasn’t wrapping arms because he was pulling out of the tackle in response to Walsh’s movement at speed. Strike 3. This “duty of care” BS is spouted by people who seem to be unaware of the risk management hierarchy that applies to safe work practices. Tackles and collisions are an essential aspect of the job. The match review committee disagrees with you and so do I.
wilbas
Roar Rookie
The duty of care came after the legislation for employers of chain of responsibilities... These changes were bought in not so much to protect players but to protect the clubs and the league from future litigation.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I know you’re completely impartial on the subject, but none of those things you mentioned are remotely the same thing Of course there is going to be accidental head contact But May launched himself, left the ground, displayed zero tackle technique and smashed Walsh’s face in as a result I bet you were howling when Finucane did the same thing to Crichton a couple of years ago Interesting that you didn’t use the closest comparison in your long list of ‘stuff that happens’…
wilbas
Roar Rookie
when you move up swift to stop a play like that you are thinking of getting your left hand at ball height to stop the pass...he arrives a micro second too late and finds himself and Walsh preparing for a collision...both players begin to stand upright and tall as they hit the brakes and the heads collide...otherwise there would have been nothing.
Good Grief
Roar Rookie
I agree he jumped a bit, he jumped up and back when Walsh leaned in, not up and forward. This wasn’t reckless, it reduced the force of impact.